What-not

This article is about the item of furniture. For the Muppet Show characters, see Whatnot (Muppet). For the English word or phrase, see what not and whatnot at Wiktionary. What Not is also a novel by Rose Macaulay.

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 nots", hence the allusive name. In its English form, it is a convenient piece of drawing room furniture, and was rarely valued for its aesthetic.

A corner what-not

References

Attribution:

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "What-Not". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 576.