bracket, in architecture, device of wood, stone, or metal that projects from or overhangs a wall to carry a weight. It may also serve as a ledge to support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf. Brackets are often in the form of volutes, or scrolls, and can be carved, cast, or molded. They are sometimes entirely ornamental. Among the types of bracket are the corbel and the console, but there are many types that have no special name.
A bracket acts simultaneously outward, along the horizontal or top edge, and downward along the wall that supports the vertical. Too great a load on the bracket may pull dangerously against the wall, and so the horizontal edge is often an extension of an interior floor, to counteract the outward tendency. Such a design may be seen in the Canon’s Cloister, Windsor Castle, New Windsor, Berkshire, England (1353–56).