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Inarchitecture, acorbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry asuperincumbent weight,[1] a type ofbracket.[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 ofcorbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall orparapet, has been used sinceNeolithic (New Stone Age) times. It is common inmedieval architecture and in theScottish baronial style as well as in the vocabulary ofclassical architecture, such as themodillions of aCorinthian cornice. Thecorbel arch and corbel vault use the technique systematically to make openings in walls and to form ceilings. These are found in the early architecture of most cultures, fromEurasia toPre-Columbian architecture.[note 1]
Aconsole 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 forfurniture, as inconsole table, and other decorative arts where the motif appears.
The wordcorbel comes fromOld French and derives from theLatincorbellus, adiminutive ofcorvus ("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 acorbeau ("crow").
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 (TheChurch of St Mary and St David inKilpeck, Herefordshire is a notable example, with 85 of its original 91 richly carved corbels still surviving).[4]
Similarly, in theEarly English period corbels were sometimes elaborately carved, as atLincoln Cathedral, and sometimes more simply so.[1]
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 thecapitals ofcolumns.[1]
Throughout England, inhalf-timber work, wooden corbels ("tassels" or "braggers") abound, carrying window-sills ororiel windows in wood, which also are often carved.[1]
The corbels carryingbalconies in Italy and France were sometimes of great size and richly carved, and some of the finest examples of the ItalianCinquecento (16th century) style are found in them.[1] Taking a cue from 16th-century practice, the Paris-trained designers of 19th-centuryBeaux-Arts architecture were encouraged to show imagination in varying corbels.[citation needed]
Acorbel table is a projecting mouldedstring course supported by a range of corbels. Sometimes these corbels carry a smallarcade under the string course, the arches of which are pointed and trefoiled. As a rule, the corbel table carries thegutter, but inLombard work the arcaded corbel table was used as a decoration to subdivide the storeys and break up the wall surface. In Italy sometimes over the corbels will form a moulding, and above a plain piece of projecting wall forming aparapet.[1]
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 themachicolations of English and French castles had four courses.[1]
In modernchimney construction, a corbel table is constructed on the inside of aflue in the form of a concrete ring beam supported by a range of corbels. The corbels can be eitherin-situ or pre-cast concrete. The corbel tables described here are built at approximately ten-metre intervals to ensure stability of thebarrel ofrefractory bricks constructed thereon.[citation needed]
Corbelling, where rows of corbels gradually build a wall out from the vertical, has long been used as a simple kind ofvaulting, for example in many Neolithicchambered 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 thebeehive house (ancient Britain and elsewhere), the Irishclochán, the pre-Romannuraghe ofSardinia, and thetholos tombs (or "beehive tombs") of LateBronze Age Greece and other parts of the Mediterranean.[citation needed]
Inmedieval architecture, the technique was used to support upper storeys or a parapet projecting forward from the wall plane, often to formmachicolations (openings between corbels could be used to drop things onto attackers). This later became a decorative feature, without the openings. Corbelling supporting upper stories and particularly supporting projecting cornerturrets subsequently became a characteristic of theScottish baronial style.
Medieval timber-framed buildings often employjettying, where upper stories arecantilevered out on projecting wooden beams in a similar manner to corbelling.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Corbel".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 136.
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