Corbel

A projection from the vertical face of a wall or other object supporting some superincumbent feature. In furniture it is usually referred to as a bracket or console.

Corner Cupboards

These cupboards were originally designed by architects as part of the fittings of a room. About the beginning of the eighteenth century cabinetmakers made them as pieces of mobile furniture, sometimes as hanging cupboards.

Corner Or Writing Arm-Chair

Usually a square-seated chair with the seat fixed diagonally so that one of the corners is in front. Sometimes it is provided with three principal legs and one back leg fixed to the corners of the seat. Continuations upwards of the three back legs form the supports to the low circular top rail which served as a support for both arms and back. Splats under this top rail and between the supports were often introduced. They were first made in the Chippendale period. See Barber's Chair.

Cornice

The uppermost or crowning moulding of an entablature; a finishing moulding where there is no frieze or architrave. See Tester.

Cornucopia Sofa

A sofa with scrolled arms carved in the form of a cornucopia, the design being repeated on the back and legs ; the foot was in lion's paw form. Sofas of this kind were sparsely made about the time of the English Regency - the second decade of the nineteenth century.

Couch

A lounge for resting by day with supports and cushions for the back at one or both ends. It was probably copied from the French early in the seventeenth century and led to the "day-bed."

Counterfeits

See Reproductions.

Court Cupboard

A cupboard with smaller cupboards over it, often richly carved, used by the family for wine, etc., as distinguished from the "livery" cupboard used by the retainers for bread, butter, cheese, etc. It was in vogue from Tudor times until the end of the seventeenth century and was probably evolved from the double hutch of previous times.

Courting Chair

An upholstered double chair or settee for two persons, of French origin and popular towards the end of the seventeenth century. In the reign of Queen Anne the back was made open and resembled two chair backs joined together. It was then usually called a two-chair-back settee.

Cradle

A small enclosed bed or cot, often suspended or mounted on rockers, for an infant. In all ages great pains were taken over its construction and decoration, which naturally followed the fashions of the time. Originally it was of oak, more or less elaborately carved and adorned, and of box-like shape, with or without a canopied head. The cradles made for great families were sometimes painted and gilded ; the framework was even overlaid with plates of gold or silver. After the "age of oak" the cradle gradually grew slighter and more mobile, and is now made in many materials and a vast variety of forms. A number of historic cradles are still in existence - that of Henry V. (London Museum); the reputed cradle of Queen Elizabeth (Hatfield House); that of James I. (Earl of Mar and Kellie); Dean Swift (Brede Church, Sussex).