# Console table

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{{Short description|Furniture}}
thumb|Self-supporting form of the console table. The bracket supports are frequently highly decorative
[[File:Gyldenholm Sal.jpg|thumb|Console tables serving as [pier table](/source/pier_table)s underneath [pier glass](/source/pier_glass)es, Denmark]]
A '''console table''' is a table whose top surface is supported by [corbel](/source/corbel)s or [bracket](/source/Bracket_(architecture))s rather than by the usual four legs.<ref>Furniture historian Edgar G. Miller differentiates the console table and the pier table. Pier tables are designed with a flat edge to be against the wall, whereas a console table may have any edge against the wall or be freestanding. Miller, Edgar George (1937). American Antique Furniture: A Book for Amateurs. New York: Barrows, p.830</ref> It is thus similar to a supported [shelf](/source/Shelf_(storage)) and is not designed to serve as a stand-alone surface. It is frequently used as  [pier table](/source/pier_table) (which may have legs of any variety), to abut a [pier wall](/source/Pier_(architecture)). 

The term [console](/source/Corbel) derives from the compound [Latin](/source/Latin) verb ''consolor'' "to alleviate, lighten", from the verb ''solor'', "to assuage, soothe, relieve, mitigate", plus the preposition ''con/com/cum'', "with".<ref>Cassell's Latin Dictionary, Marchant, J. R. V, & Charles, Joseph F., (Eds.), Revised Edition, 1928</ref>

A '''console shelf''' is a shelf fulfilling the same function as a console table.

==Types==
'''Low console:''' Positioned at table height, or sometimes slightly higher, with its flat side against the wall. The front may be rounded or straight, depending on the period and style.
Its support may consist of a single or double base, with the top attached to the wall;
four legs curved inward in scrolls in the [Empire style](/source/Empire_style);
or four straight legs in the modern style.

'''High console:''' A small shelf placed at about standing height, once used to hold a small lamp, a [candle](/source/candle), or similar object.

From the 18th century onward, the term console came to refer to a small movable piece of furniture, previously known as the “foot” or “base” of a [trumeau mirror](/source/trumeau_mirror) or painting. It consists of a top supported by two or four legs joined by an ornamental [strut](/source/strut).

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{commons category|Console tables}}

Category:Tables (furniture)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Console table](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_table) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_table?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.