pedestal

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1. A support for a column, statue, urn, etc., consisting in classical architecture of a base, dado, or die and a cornice, surbase, or cap; in modern design often a plain unornamented block.
2. An upright compression member the height of which does not exceed three times its least lateral dimension.

pedestal

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Something on a pedestal is something to be admired, even worshiped. A dream about being on a pedestal can represent either a feeling that someone else admires us or a desire to be admired. We also sometimes talk about "knocking someone off their pedestal."

• Stools and Stands - pedestal: flat-topped base or stand for display of ornamental object
• Sculpture Tools and Techniques - pedestal: base or stand for sculpture, esp. bust
• Classical Elements and Design - pedestal: support at foot of column

For other uses, see Pedestal (disambiguation).

A statue of Henry IV of France on a pedestal

Pedestal (from French piedestal, Italian piedistallo, foot of a stall) is a term generally applied to the support of a statue or a vase.

Although in Syria, Asia Minor and Tunisia the Romans occasionally raised the columns of their temples or propylaea on square pedestals, in Rome itself they were employed only to give greater importance to isolated columns, such as those of Trajan and Antoninus, or as a podium to the columns employed decoratively in the Roman triumphal arches.

The architects of the Italian revival, 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, the balustrade of the arcade. They also would seem to have considered that the height of the pedestal should correspond in its proportion with that of the column or pilaster 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).

In the imperial China, a stone tortoise called bixi was traditionally used as the pedestal for important stele, especially those associated with emperors.^[1] According to the 1396 version of the regulations issued by the Ming Dynasty founder, the Hongwu Emperor, the highest nobility (those of the gong and hou ranks) and the officials of the top 3 ranks were eligible for bixi-based funerary tablets, while lower-level mandarins' steles were to stand on simple rectangular pedestals.^[2]

Types of pedestals

An elevated pedestal or plinth which bears a statue and which is raised from the substructure supporting it (typically roofs or corniches) is sometimes called an acropodium. The term is from the Greek akros or topmost + podos or foot. Often misheard "pedal stool".

Culture influences

When a person overly idealizes someone (or something), it is often referred to as "putting them on a pedestal".

See also

• Pedestal crater
• Pedestal desk
• Pedestal table, a table with a single central leg

Notes

1. ^ Stele on the Back of Stone Tortoise (an overview of the Bixi tradition)
2. ^ de Groot, Jan Jakob Maria (1892), The Religious System of China, II, Brill Archive, pp. 451–452, http://www.archive.org/stream/religioussystem01groogoog#page/n105/mode/1up .

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pedestal

Look up pedestal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - sokkel, piedestal
v. tr. - sætte på en piedestal

idioms:

• put on a pedestal    sætte på en piedestal

Nederlands (Dutch)
voetstuk, poot/steun (bureau/wastafel etc.), basis, op een voetstuk zetten

Français (French)
n. - socle, piédestal, colonne
v. tr. - mettre sur un piédestal, munir d'un piédestal

idioms:

• put on a pedestal    mettre sur un piédestal

Deutsch (German)
n. - Sockel
v. - auf ein Postament stellen

idioms:

• put on a pedestal    in den Himmel heben

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - βάθρο, βάση

idioms:

• put on a pedestal    ειδωλοποιώ, ηρωοποιώ ή θεοποιώ κάποιον

Italiano (Italian)
piedistallo

idioms:

• put on a pedestal    mettere su un piedistallo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - pedestal (m), base (f)

idioms:

• put on a pedestal    colocar sobre um pedestal, ter em alto conceito, colocar em lugar de honra

Русский (Russian)
пьедестал

idioms:

• put on a pedestal    вознести на пьедестал

Español (Spanish)
n. - pedestal
v. tr. - colocar sobre un pedestal

idioms:

• put on a pedestal    poner a alguien en un pedestal o por las nubes

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - piedestal, sockel, hurts

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
基架, 基础, 座, 加座, 支持, 搁在台上

idioms:

• put on a pedestal    崇拜

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 基架, 基礎, 座
v. tr. - 加座, 支援, 擱在臺上

idioms:

• put on a pedestal    崇拜

한국어 (Korean)
n. - (흉상 등의) 대, 받침대, 기초
v. tr. - 대좌에 올려 놓다., 받들다

idioms:

• put on a pedestal    연장자로서 존경하다.

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 台, 台座, そで

idioms:

• put on a pedestal    尊敬する, 崇める

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) قاعدة العمود أو التمثال, أساس,‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מעמד, כן, בסיס, קורת תמיכה אנכית במכונה, חלק תחתון מכיל מגירות של שולחן-כתיבה‬
v. tr. - ‮השעין על כן‬

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