Display & Mounting Artifacts

The jeweler’s rule, borrowed: nothing looks finished until it stands properly. Display and mounting pieces are bases, pedestals and mounts in wood and steel. Chinese miniature bases in rosewood, camphor wood, mahogany and ebony, some with lotus or Greek key carving, are cut to hold small bronzes, jade, snuff bottles and stones. Custom steel bases, wall mounts for spears and armatures for masks and sculpture hold larger pieces securely and almost invisibly. Painted and walnut wood pedestals lift a figure to eye level.

A good base sets the angle, the height and the shadow. A carved stand under a scholar’s rock, or a slim steel rod beneath a mask, lets the piece read on a console or a gallery wall. Good support goes unremarked.