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Apedestal orplinth is a support at the bottom of astatue,vase,column, or certainaltars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be calledsocles. Incivil engineering, it is also calledbasement. The minimum height of the plinth is usually kept as 45 cm (for buildings)[citation needed]. It transmits loads fromsuperstructure to thesubstructure and acts as the retaining wall for the filling inside the plinth or raised floor.
In sculpting, the terms base, plinth, and pedestal are defined according to their subtle differences. A base is defined as a large mass that supports the sculpture from below. A plinth is defined as a flat and planar support which separates the sculpture from the environment. A pedestal, on the other hand, is defined as a shaft-like form that raises the sculpture and separates it from the base.[1]
An elevated pedestal or plinth that bears a statue, and which is raised from thesubstructure supporting it (typically roofs or corniches), is sometimes called anacropodium. The term is fromGreek ἄκροςákros 'topmost' and πούςpoús (root ποδ-pod-) 'foot'.
Although inSyria,Asia Minor andTunisia the Romans occasionally raised the columns of their temples orpropylaea on square pedestals, inRome itself they were employed only to give greater importance to isolated columns, such as those ofTrajan andAntoninus, or as apodium to the columns employed decoratively in the Roman triumphal arches.
The architects of theItalian Renaissance, however, conceived the idea that no order was complete without a pedestal, and as the orders were by them employed to divide up and decorate a building in several stories, the cornice of the pedestal was carried through and formed the sills of their windows, or, in open arcades, round a court, thebalustrade of thearcade. They also would seem to have considered that the height of the pedestal should correspond in its proportion with that of the column orpilaster it supported; thus in the church of Saint John Lateran, where the applied order is of considerable dimensions, the pedestal is 13 feet (4.0 m) high instead of the ordinary height of 3 to 5 feet (1.5 m).
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In Asian art alotus throne is a stylized lotus flower used as the seat or base for a figure. It is the normal pedestal for divine figures inBuddhist art andHindu art, and often seen inJain art. Originating inIndian art, it followedIndian religions toEast Asia in particular.
In imperial China, a stone tortoise calledbixi was traditionally used as the pedestal for important stele, especially those associated with emperors.[2] According to the 1396 version of the regulations issued by theMing Dynasty founder, theHongwu Emperor, the highest nobility (those of thegong andhou ranks) and the officials of the top 3 ranks were eligible forbixi-based funerary tablets, while lower-levelmandarins' steles were to stand on simple rectangular pedestals.[3]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Pedestal".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
