Display Plinth 500mm by 500mm by 900mm High in Matt Black Lacquer

A 500mm square plinth at 900mm tall, in matt black lacquer. Standard gallery height, which puts a small object at eye level.

A plinth is a simple object and almost every cheap one gets the same three things wrong. The panel is too thin, so the top deflects under a bronze and you can see it from across the room. The corners are mitred and glued rather than lock jointed, so they open after one move and the paint cracks at the arris. And there is no ballast, so a tall plinth with a light object on it can be knocked over by somebody walking past with a coat. Ours are 18mm on a braced internal frame, lock jointed at every corner, and ballasted at the base on anything over 900mm tall.

Specification

• Dimensions: 500mm wide by 500mm deep by 900mm high
• Display surface: 500mm by 500mm, flat within 0.5mm across the diagonal
• Construction: 18mm moisture resistant MDF on a braced internal frame, lock jointed at every corner
• Finish: 18mm MDF sprayed in a two pack polyurethane to RAL 9005 in a dead matt, which swallows reflections and is why photographers ask for it
• Load rating: 310kg evenly distributed, 155kg point load in the centre
• Levelling: four M10 levelling feet with 20mm of travel, recessed so nothing shows and nothing catches a toe
• Security: no lock, this is an open plinth
• Delivery: flat packed, two person delivery to the room, packaging taken away on the same visit if you ask when you book
• Weight: approximately 31.7 kilograms
• Hollow, and it can be weighted through the access panel
• Access panel in the back for cable, weight or a lock
• Corner detail: lock jointed, not mitred, so it survives a move
• Touch up paint supplied in the exact batch
• Cut to a non standard height for 6 per cent more, chosen at order

What you get

• The plinth, flat packed
• Four levelling feet
• A removable access panel with a captive fixing
• A 50ml pot of the exact finish for touching up
• A hex key, a spanner and printed instructions

Setting it up

It arrives flat packed with a hex key, a spanner and printed instructions. Fittings are cam locks into steel inserts rather than screws into board, so it comes apart for a move and goes back together square. Level it on the feet before anything goes on top, and check it with a level across both diagonals rather than along the front, because a gallery floor is almost never flat and a plinth that follows the floor is the thing everybody notices and nobody can name.

Specifying it

Two rules cover most of it. The top of a plinth should be a little smaller than the footprint of the object, not larger, because a visible margin of empty plinth reads as a mistake and an object that slightly overhangs reads as deliberate. And the height should put the centre of the work between 1300 and 1500mm off the floor, which is eye level for most people standing at a comfortable viewing distance. For a small object that means a tall plinth, which people resist and should not. If in doubt, send us the dimensions and weight of the piece and we will tell you the size we would use.