Chinese Pillar Base - Square

A wooden column rots from the bottom up. This is what Chinese builders put underneath.

This square pillar base comes from China and dates to the early 18th century. It is stone, and it has one job. Traditional Chinese buildings carried their roofs on timber columns, and a base like this lifted each column clear of the damp ground. Stepped moldings frame the top and foot, with a swelling waist between them. Long cracks run across the pale gray surface, and the corners look worn. It measures 15.5 inches wide, deep and high.

Nobody came to admire it. They came for the roof.