Changes

==Etymology==

==Etymology==

Middle French piedestal, from Old Italian piedestallo, from pie di stallo foot of a stall

Middle French piedestal, from Old Italian piedestallo, from pie di stallo foot of a stall

*Date: [http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Century 1563]

*Date: [https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Century 1563]

==Definitions==

==Definitions==

*1 a : the [[support]] or foot of a late [[classic]] or neoclassic column

*1 a : the [[support]] or foot of a late [[classic]] or neoclassic column

==Description==

==Description==

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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trajan%27s_Column Trajan] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoninus_Pius Antoninus], or as a podium to the columns employed decoratively in the Roman triumphal arches.

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 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trajan%27s_Column Trajan] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoninus_Pius Antoninus], or as a podium to the columns employed decoratively in the Roman triumphal arches.

The architects of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance 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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balustrade balustrade] of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcade_(architecture) 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).

The architects of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance 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 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balustrade balustrade] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcade_(architecture) 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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_Dynasty Ming Dynasty] founder, the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hongwu_Emperor 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]

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 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_Dynasty Ming Dynasty] founder, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hongwu_Emperor 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]

==Use in Popular Culture==

==Use in Popular Culture==

When a [[person]] overly [[Idol|idealizes]] someone (or something), it is often referred to as "putting one on a pedestal".

When a [[person]] overly [[Idol|idealizes]] someone (or something), it is often referred to as "putting one on a pedestal".

==Notes==

==Notes==

# Stele on the Back of Stone Tortoise (an overview of the Bixi tradition)

# Stele on the Back of Stone Tortoise (an overview of the Bixi tradition)

# 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 .

# de Groot, Jan Jakob Maria (1892), The Religious System of China, II, Brill Archive, pp. 451-452, https://www.archive.org/stream/religioussystem01groogoog#page/n105/mode/1up .

[[Category: Sculpture]]

[[Category: Sculpture]]