Chinese Stone Pillar Base

Built to hold up a column. Somebody still took the trouble to carve it a menagerie.

This pillar base comes from Hebei Province, China, and dates to the 17th or 18th century. It is stone. Carved stone bases protected the feet of timber columns in traditional Chinese architecture, keeping the wood off damp ground. Scrolling creatures wrap the top band, a small animal lies among vines below, and a bold four-legged beast fills the central panel. The lower section is carved as hanging cloth, with a round symbol in its center. The surface looks worn. Twenty-five and a half inches high.

All that work, and it was meant to spend its life near the floor.