A socle is a low, plain block or plinth on which a statue, bust, vase, urn or column stands. It raises the object slightly above its surroundings and gives it visual weight, without the height or elaboration of a full pedestal. The word comes from the Italian zoccolo, meaning a clog or wooden shoe, and in architecture it can also describe the plain projecting base of a wall or building.
Socles appear throughout classical and Neo-classical design, and they are a familiar feature of busts and small sculptures from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when Grand Tour souvenirs were often mounted on turned or square socles of coloured marble, porphyry or ebonised wood. Bronzes of the period may sit on socles of red or green marble, sometimes with gilt-bronze mounts, and Chinese and other works of art were frequently given new socles by European owners. Collectors should consider whether a socle is original to the object or a later replacement, as this can affect both value and authenticity. Well-proportioned socles also make useful stands in their own right for displaying fragments, vases and small antiquities.
