Structural ceramics are used more and more in industry. Structural bonding is a well-adapted technique for joining such materials, as far as low-temperature applications are concerned. A mechanical rupture test specially designed for adhesively-bonded brittle substrates is presented here. This test is a single-lap compression-shear test (SLCS test). A finite element modelling (in the elastic field) of the bonded assembly shows that this test is identical to the standard single-lap tensile-shear test (SLTS test), as far as the stress distribution in the adhesive is concerned. Experiments show that ceramics as brittle as alumina or silicon carbide can be used with this compression-shear test.