Set of Three Graduated Plinths 400mm Square in Solid Oak

Three plinths at 700, 900 and 1100mm, which is the group most galleries hang a room around. Graduated heights read as one composition rather than three objects.

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: Three plinths at 400mm square, heights 700mm, 900mm, 1100mm
• Display surface: 400mm by 400mm on every plinth in the set
• Construction: 18mm on a braced internal frame, lock jointed at every corner
• Finish: solid European oak, 20mm panels on a braced frame, finished in a hardwax oil, sprayed in one batch so the whole set matches
• Load rating: 260kg per plinth evenly distributed
• Levelling: four M10 levelling feet with 20mm of travel, recessed so nothing shows and nothing catches a toe
• Security: no locks, these are open plinths
• Delivery: flat packed, two person delivery to the room, packaging taken away on the same visit if you ask when you book
• Weight: approximately 86.0 kilograms for the set
• Set contains three plinths
• Finish: sprayed as one batch, which is why a set matches and three separate orders do not
• Saving against buying them singly: about 10 per cent
• Ballasted on anything over 900mm
• Touch up paint supplied in the exact batch
• Extra plinths can be added later and we keep the batch record for five years

What you get

• Three plinths, flat packed
• Levelling feet for every plinth
• An access panel in each with a captive fixing
• A 100ml pot of the exact finish for touching up
• A hex key, a spanner and printed instructions
• A layout card with three arrangements that work

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.