Encoignure

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Encoignure is a word concerning furniture, literally the angle, or return, formed by the junction of two walls. Since the 1900s, the word is chiefly used to designate a small armoire, commode, cabinet or cupboard made to fit a corner; a chaise encoignure is called in English a three-cornered chair. In its origin the thing, like the word, is French, and the delightful Louis Quinze or Louis Seize encoignure in lacquer or in mahogany elaborately mounted in gilded bronze is not the least alluring piece of the great period of French furniture. It was made in a vast variety of forms so far as the front was concerned; in other respects it was strictly limited by its destination. As a rule these delicate and dainty receptacles were in pairs and placed in opposite angles; more often than not the top was formed of a slab of colored marble.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.