Corbel
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight,[1] a type of bracket.[2] A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the structure. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger" in England.[1]
The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or
A console is more specifically an S-shaped scroll bracket in the classical tradition, with the upper or inner part larger than the lower (as in the first illustration) or outer. Keystones are also often in the form of consoles.[3] Whereas "corbel" is rarely used outside architecture, "console" is widely used for furniture, as in console table, and other decorative arts where the motif appears.
The word corbel comes from Old French and derives from the Latin corbellus, a diminutive of corvus ("raven"), which refers to the beak-like appearance.[1][note 2] Similarly, the French refer to a bracket-corbel, usually a load-bearing internal feature, as a corbeau ("crow").
Decorated corbels
Norman (Romanesque) corbels often have a plain appearance,[1] although they may be elaborately carved with stylised heads of humans, animals or imaginary "beasts", and sometimes with other motifs (The Church of St Mary and St David in Kilpeck, Herefordshire is a notable example, with 85 of its original 91 richly carved corbels still surviving).[4]
Similarly, in the
Corbels sometimes end with a point apparently growing into the wall, or forming a knot, and often are supported by angels and other figures. In the later periods the carved foliage and other ornaments used on corbels resemble those used in the capitals of columns.[1]
Throughout England, in half-timber work, wooden corbels ("tassels" or "braggers") abound, carrying window-sills or oriel windows in wood, which also are often carved.[1]
Classical architecture
The corbels carrying
Corbel tables
A corbel table is a projecting moulded
The corbels carrying the arches of the corbel tables in Italy and France were often elaborately moulded, sometimes in two or three courses projecting over one another; those carrying the machicolations of English and French castles had four courses.[1]
In modern
Corbelling
Corbelling, where rows of corbels gradually build a wall out from the vertical, has long been used as a simple kind of vaulting, for example in many Neolithic chambered cairns, where walls are gradually corbelled in until the opening can be spanned by a slab.
Corbelled vaults are very common in early architecture around the world. Different types may be called the
In
Medieval timber-framed buildings often employ jettying, where upper stories are cantilevered out on projecting wooden beams in a similar manner to corbelling.
Gallery
- Short visual history of corbels
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)
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Renaissance corbels of the Santa Maria della Pace (Rome)
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Rococo corbel with a mascaron, on the Hôtel Jeanne d'Albret (Paris)
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Gothic Revival corbel supported balcony in Potsdam (Germany)
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19th century Eclectic Classicist corbels on Rue des Saints-Pères (Paris)
See also
Notes
- Maes Howe, a particularly fine Neolithic chambered cairn in Scotland.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary gives a similar etymology but from Latin corvellum or corvellus.
References
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0). Oxford University Press, 2009.
- ISBN 0500201773
- ^ CRSBI website: St Mary and St David, Kilpeck, Herefordshire Archived 2012-07-30 at archive.today
Sources
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Corbel". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 136. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- The CRSBI (Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain and Ireland) website has many examples of carved Norman corbels
- Curl, James Stevens (2006). A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (Paperback) (Second ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 880 pages. ISBN 0-19-860678-8.
External links
- Beyond-the-pale—A discursive and richly-illustrated website showing corbels on hundreds of churches in the British Isles, France and Spain, depicting the sins of the flesh and their punishment
- An Illustrated Masonry Glossary