Fireplace mantel
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A fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a fire grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorat
Fireplace mantel of a marble slab atop decorative stonework, at Arlington House
Parisian chimneypiece, circa 1775–1785, Carrara marble with gilt bronze, height: 111.4 cm (43+3⁄4 in), width: 169.5 cm (66+3⁄4 in), depth: 41.9 cm (16+1⁄2 in), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
Fireplace and overmantel at Boston Manor House
Modern wooden fireplace mantel in a suburban American home.
Hearth
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A hearth is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any
Fireplace mantel
…painting" and so on. Up to the twelfth century, fires were simply made in the middle of a home by a hypocaust, or with braziers, or by fires on the hearth with smoke vented out through the lantern in the roof. As time went on, the placement of fireplaces moved to the wall, incorporating chimneys to vent…
Hearth with cooking utensils
Japanese traditional hearth (irori)
A cauldron over a fire in William Blake's illustrations to his mythical Europe a Prophecy first published in 1794. This version of the print is currently held by the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Dutch style kitchen hearth in Hofwijck mansion, Voorburg, Netherlands