CI NZ]; EL, a term used by some for a niche or hollow in a wad. to contain a statue. bust. NC.
ConisEi., a block of stone or other material projecting moon the flee of a wall, and used to support a superineumbent weight, such as the beams of a roof, ribs of vaulting, and such like. The term is confined chiefly to such supports employed in Gothic architecture. in the buildings of which corbels very frequently: they perform somewhat ()fa similar (drive to the modil lions or consoles used in Classical buildings, but their more perfect prototype is to be seen in the projecting figures and heads supporting consoles, in the relOai us the baths of Diocle:ia n, at Nome.
Corbels are usually carved in grotesque heads, animals, flow ers...Xc. : in the Romanesque style they are either simple square Movies with the thee occasionally rounded, or earvell in th shape of grotesque heads ; in the Early-pointed, the sonietimes moulded, and in the richer specimens carved into knops of foliage; when heads or masks are used, they are not of such grotesque appearance as during the pre ceding period ; in the next style they are more frequently folhp,ted, and in the Perpendicular carved in the form of :utters sometimes bearing shields and other devices ; in the later styles, the corbel is usually terminated above by a mmilding. or selies of mouldings, forming a kind of capital. Corbels of large (lime hulls, such as those suiporting a of clustered columns, are generally very elaborately orna !w•ited in combinations of masses. or gong's of foliage springing from one or more points linderneath, and clustered t(igether under the cap; sometimes groups of figures are into as in the beautiful specimens to be seen in Exeter Cathedral.
are not unt'requent in castellated architecture, and when so employed are of a very massive character. They have usually two of' their sides vertical planes, perpendicular to the surfitee or flee of the wall ; and their other surfaces, which are their edges 411' frOnts, el.,: of with
the greater axis of their section perliendicular.
The edge of each corbel generally consists of one, two, and sometimes three convex MO1111108r surfaces: when the of each bracket consists of two or three convex recti linear surfaces, these surlhees are generally separated by fillets, which have vertical sides parallel to the thee of the building, dint horizontal soffits.
CUR lss 1.5 :WO a ISO a horizontal row of stones or timber, fixed in a wall, or in the side of a vault, for sustaining the timbers of a floor, or those of a roof. Alany of the timber doors, or contignations, in old buildings, \% ere this supported ; the timbers of the comic owl of .St. Paul's are tied to the conic vault by means of etirlwis. The ends of the corbels are generally rut into a ColiVeX or ,gee form.
in the Caryatie order. arc those parts upon the heads of the Caryatides, under the soffit of the a•ehitrave cornice, that repiesent baskets. or rather cushions, and have an abacus, as in the Grecian orders.
The term is also used fli• the vase of the Corinthian capital. it in thrill of a basket.
Conn:. 1,-11oLE, a moulding. in Norman a rchiteetnre, em ployed frequently to support a blocking It consists Of two rows of billets or cubical blocks of stone disposed at intervals, and so arranged, that, the alternate in the a block cumin:* under a :pave, and sire •erm,. See BILLET -.11 (it: LDINc ConnEL-SrEes, sometimes called cortir-steps. a term applied to steps up the sides of a gable; w hen the parapet is finined into a kind of battlement, broken into steps or ledges. which converge from tile caves to the apex. Speci mens are to be seen in many old 'lenses. especially in Scot land, Flanders, Rolland. and Gerinany. The? may have been used perhaps for extinguishing fire, ()r escaping from it, or merely for ornament.