Included in the Christie's auction of the possessions of the late Maureen, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava next Thursday in London is this Louis XVI ormolu-mounted tole peinte and mahogany bon-heur-du-jour. It is expected to make one of the occasion's highest prices, with a pre-sale estimate of sterling £40,000-£60,000. A member of the extensive Guinness family, Maureen Dufferin's London home contained a considerable number of pieces of French 18th-century furniture, including a pair of Louis XV ormolu console tables and a Louis XV ormolu-mounted tulipwood serpentine and parquetry bureau-plat.

The bonheur-du-jour, made by Parisian cabinet maker Godefroy Dester, seems to bear certain similarities to a mahogany commode from the same source which once stood in the Comte d'Artois's bedroom in his `Temple' at Bagatelle.

The technique of tole peinte - panels of sheet metal with painted decoration - was invented in Italy in 1740 and introduced to France some 20 years later, where it soon came to rival lacquer as a fashionable form of decoration.

Evidence of its pre-revolutionary popularity is demonstrated by an announcement made in L'Avant Coureur by Charles-Raymond Granchez, bijoutier to Queen Marie Antoinette, that he was employing craftsmen who had previously worked for the petite Pologne manufacture de tole vernie, established in 1768. The tole peinte is used in this piece of furniture for a series of medallions and tablets painted with bouquets and floral garlands.