Stands & Pedestals Furniture

Everything looks more important lifted a few inches. Stands and pedestals do the lifting. Chinese carved hardwood display bases, cushion-shaped and circular with bun feet, were made to hold scholar’s rocks, bronzes and porcelain; stele pedestals and pillar bases raise stone sculpture to eye level; kang-style stands with stone inset tops serve as both table and plinth. African stools of the Bamileke, Senufo, Nupe and Ashanti, heavy and carved from a single piece of wood, often do the same work.

Elmwood, hardwood, stone, iron and brass give them weight. A pair of tall pedestals frames a stairwell; a low carved base under a Tibetan bronze on a walnut console redirects a whole wall. A good pedestal does its job and disappears.