Etagere
Encyclopedia
An étagère is a piece of light furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...

 very similar to the English what-not
What-not
A what-not is a piece of furniture derived from the French étagère, which was exceedingly popular in England in the first three-quarters of the 19th century. It usually consists of slender uprights or pillars, supporting a series of shelves for holding china, ornaments, trifles, or what not, hence...

, which was extensively made in France during the latter part of the 18th century. It consists of a series of stages or shelves
Shelf
Shelf may refer to:* Shelf , a flat horizontal surface used for diplay and storage* Shelf , a user interface feature in the NeXTSTEP operating system* Shelf, West Yorkshire, a village in England...

 for the reception of ornaments or other small articles. Like the what-not it was very often cornerwise in shape, and the best Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....

examples in exotic woods are exceedingly graceful and elegant.

In modern usage, an étagère is often used to refer specifically to a long-legged shelf unit that fits over a bathroom toilet, also known as a space saver.
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