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corbel

  (kôr'bəl, -bĕl') pronunciation
n.

A bracket of stone, wood, brick, or other building material, projecting from the face of a wall and generally used to support a cornice or arch.

tr.v., -beled also -belled, -bel·ing -bel·ling, -bels -bels.

To provide with or support by a corbel or corbels.

[Middle English, from Old French, diminutive of corp, raven (from the similarity of its shape to that of a raven's beak), from Latin corvus.]


 
 

Block or brick partially embedded in a wall, with one end projecting out from the face. The weight of added masonry above counterbalances the cantilever and keeps the block from falling out of the wall. Corbeling often occurs over several courses, with each block or brick overhanging the one below so as to resemble a set of inverted steps. The form may be continuous, as in a corbeled arch, or a series of separate brackets, as on a medieval battlement. Corbeling was used extensively before the development of true arches and vaults.

For more information on corbel, visit Britannica.com.

 
Architecture: corbel


1. In masonry, a projection or one of a series of projections, each stepped progressively outward with increasing height, and usually projecting from a wall or chimney; serves as a support for an overhanging member or course, 1 above, or as a purely decorative element.
2. A projecting stone that supports a superincumbent weight.
3. A heavy bracket, often decorated, that is set into an adobe wall to act as a bearing surface to support a roof beam.

brick wall having a corbel, 1
corbel, 2


 

[Co]

A stone block or timber projecting from a wall to provide the seating for a beam or rafter supporting an upper floor, balcony, or projection. Usually found in groups and often ornamented.

 
Wikipedia: corbel
For the town in France, see Corbel, Savoie. For the Windows Vista typeface, see Corbel (typeface).
Elaborately decorated classical-style stone corbels support balconies on a building in Indianapolis.
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Elaborately decorated classical-style stone corbels support balconies on a building in Indianapolis.

In architecture a corbel (or console) is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger". The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels support a projecting wall or parapet, has been used since Neolithic times. It is common in Medieval architecture and in the Scottish baronial style as well as ancient Chinese architecture.

The word "corbel" comes from Old French and derives from the Latin corbellus, a diminutive of corvus (a raven) which refers to the beak-like appearance. Similarly, the French refer to a corbel as corbeau (a crow) or as cul-de-lampe, Italians as mensola, the Germans as kragstein. However, the usual word in French for a corbel is modillon - corbeau is a bracket-corbel, which is usually a load-bearing internal feature. A cul-de-lampe is a kind of bracket-corbel supporting a vault. In traditional Chinese architecture, such a load-bearing structural element is called dougong and has been used since the late centuries BCE.

Diagram of corbel wooden bracket sets—Yingzao Fashi building manual
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Diagram of corbel wooden bracket sets—Yingzao Fashi building manual

Decorated corbels

Norman corbel at Kilpeck, Herefordshire, showing a hound and hare
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Norman corbel at Kilpeck, Herefordshire, showing a hound and hare
Stone corbel at Boyle Abbey, 13th century
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Stone corbel at Boyle Abbey, 13th century

Norman (Romanesque) corbels often have a plain appearance, although they may be elaborately carved with stylised heads of humans, animals or imaginary "beasts", and sometimes with other motifs (Kilpeck church in Herefordshire is a notable example, with 85 of its original 91 carved corbels still surviving).

Similarly, in the Early English period, corbels were sometimes elaborately carved, as at Lincoln Cathedral, and sometimes more simply so. 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.

The corbels carrying balconies in Italy and France were sometimes of great size and richly carved, and some of the finest examples of the Italian "Cinquecento" (16th century) style are found in them. Throughout England, in half-timber work, wooden corbels abound, carrying window-sills or oriel windows in wood, which also are often carved.

Corbel tables

Two Norman corbels, depicting a ram and a lion, supporting the corbel table at Kilpeck
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Two Norman corbels, depicting a ram and a lion, supporting the corbel table at Kilpeck

A corbel table is a projecting moulded string course supported by a range of corbels. Sometimes these corbels carry a small arcade under the string course, the arches of which are pointed and trefoiled. As a rule the corbel table carries the gutter, but in Lombard work the arcaded corbel table was utilized 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 a parapet.

The corbels carrying the arches of the corbel tables in Italy and France were often elaborately moulded, and sometimes in two or three courses projecting over one another; those carrying the machicolations of English and French castles had four courses.

In modern chimney construction a corbel table is constructed on the inside of a flue in the form of a concrete ring beam supported by a range of corbels. The corbels can be either in-situ or pre-cast concrete. The corbel tables described here are built at approximately ten metre intervals to ensure stability of the barrel of refractory bricks constructed thereon.

Corbelling

Main article: Corbel arch

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.

In medieval architecture the technique was used to support upper storeys or a parapet projecting forward from the wall plane, often to form machicolation where openings between corbels could be used to drop things on attackers. This later became a decorative feature, without the openings. Corbelling supporting upper stories and particularly supporting projecting corner turrets subsequently became a characteristic of the Scottish baronial style.

Mediaeval timber-framed buildings often employ jettying, where upper stories are cantilevered out on projecting wooden beams in a similar manner to corbelling.

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Examples

See also

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    Translations: Translations for: Corbel

    Dansk (Danish)
    n. - konsolsten, kragsten, kragbjælke
    v. tr. - udkrage

    Nederlands (Dutch)
    kraag-/draagsteen, balkdrager, voorzien van kraag-/draagsteen

    Français (French)
    n. - (Constr) corbeau
    v. tr. - soutenir au moyen d'un corbeau, construire un corbeau

    Deutsch (German)
    n. - Kragstein
    v. - auf Kragsteinen stützen

    Ελληνική (Greek)
    n. - (αρχιτ.) ωτίδα, φουρούσι, δοκός υποστήριξης
    v. - υποστηρίζω με φουρούσια

    Italiano (Italian)
    mensolone, apporre su mensolone

    Português (Portuguese)
    n. - modilhão (m) (Arquit.), cavalete (m) de suspensão
    v. - ressaltar, sustentar

    Русский (Russian)
    выступ, консоль

    Español (Spanish)
    n. - ménsula
    v. tr. - poner ménsulas, formar un voladizo

    Svenska (Swedish)
    n. - kragsten, konsol, bjälkhuvud
    v. - förse m kragsten

    中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
    承材, 枕梁, 给...装上托臂, 支撑

    中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
    n. - 承材, 枕梁
    v. tr. - 給...裝上托臂, 支撐

    한국어 (Korean)
    n. - 코벨, 내쌓기, 받침나무
    v. tr. - 받침장치를 하다, 받침나무로 받치다

    日本語 (Japanese)
    n. - 持出し
    v. - 持出しを付ける, 持送り積みにする, 持出しで張り出る

    العربيه (Arabic)
    ‏(الاسم) نتوء من خشب أو حجر في واجهه مبنى لحمل شي ما (فعل) يبني بهذه الطريقه‏

    עברית (Hebrew)
    n. - ‮זיז (הבולט מקיר), פס עץ המונח לאורך קורה כדי לתמוך בה‬
    v. tr. - ‮תמך או בלט מהקיר (זיז)‬


     
     

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    Copyrights:

    Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Corbel" Read more
    Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more

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