A wall shelf is a shelf or set of shelves fixed to or hanging from a wall, used to display ornaments, books, ceramics or kitchenware. Antique wall shelves range from simple boarded country examples to finely made hanging bookshelves and display shelves in mahogany, walnut and satinwood.
In the eighteenth century small hanging shelves were made to display porcelain and other prized objects, sometimes in pierced fretwork in the Chinese Chippendale taste, with shaped sides and galleried tops. Regency and Victorian makers produced elegant hanging bookshelves and whatnot-style shelves, while country joiners made plate racks, spoon racks and spice shelves for kitchens and dairies. Victorian and Edwardian homes used shelves with mirrored backs, brackets and carved decoration for displaying souvenirs and ornaments, and Arts and Crafts designers favoured plain oak shelves with simple shaped ends. Collectors look for original hanging fittings, good proportions, crisp fretwork and an untouched surface. Small antique wall shelves are especially useful in modern homes, providing places to display collections of ceramics, treen, books or small objects in kitchens, bathrooms, cloakrooms, studies and other tight spaces.
