CHIMNEYPIECE

originally, a hood, projecting from the wall over a grate, built to catch the smoke and direct it up to the chimney flue. It came to mean any decorative development of the same type or for the same purpose-e.g., a mantel, or mantelpiece. Like the modern chimney itself, the chimneypiece was essentially a northern medieval development. Its early hood form is seen at Rochester Castle, England (12th century). Later, the spaces under the ends of the hood were made solid, so that the fireplace became a rectangular opening, and in some cases the fireplace was recessed into the wall. Late medieval fireplaces were of great size and richness-as, for example, the triple fireplace in the great hall of the Palais des Comtes at Poitiers, France. During the Renaissance, fireplace openings were decorated with columns, pilasters, and entablatures, and occasionally the front of the wall or hood above the overmantel was enriched. North Italian palaces have examples of great delicacy. In France the fireplaces at the chteaus of Blois, Chambord, and Fontainebleau are known for their artistry. The chimneypiece of the Baroque and Rococo periods was usually smaller, with rich decoration, and was commonly characterized by elaborate overmantel treatments. Chimneypieces were less numerous in Germany because of the use of porcelain stoves there.