chimney piece

American  

noun

1. Chiefly British. mantlepiece.

2. Obsolete. a decoration over a fireplace.

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Etymology

Origin of chimney piece

First recorded in 1605–15

Example Sentences

While the Madonnas and portraits are in some general sense familiar, an unusual and surprising work in the show is a single fresco of a putto bearing a garland, a fragment that research by the curator revealed to have come from a chimney piece in the Vatican apartments.

From The Wall Street Journal

Replacing an existing mantel or chimney piece, or adding one where there was previously none, can immediately change the character of a fireplace.

From Seattle Times

Downstairs, amid the stained glass, oak paneling and carved stone chimney piece of a Gothic-style sitting room, was a tangerine foot about the size of a small car.

From New York Times

Somebody inside the chimney piece said, “Shh!”

From Literature

Sitting in the Great Hall of Cliveden House, we took in the ornate oak paneling, Belgian wall tapestries and the 16th-century stone chimney piece, sheltering a roaring fire.

From New York Times