mantelshelf

noun

1. A shelf above a fireplace.

   “Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.”

   “On the mantelshelf either side of the clock stood two lacquered bronzes of horse and tamer.”

2. Synonym of mantel (“type of maneuver to surmount a ledge”).