I decided to test out the idea of baking on a more detailed mesh on top of my pillar. For this I started off in maya and exporting the low poly pillar foot to import it into Zbrush. I did a simple automatic UV-map because this is only a test to see how it would work (as shown in the image below)
Then I imported this in Zbrush and did a simple carve on the mesh so that I can figure out how to bake this on top of the low poly pillar foot. I exported this mesh and opened substance painter and baked the high poly mesh on top of the low poly mesh.
Since the test worked I focused on what kind of engravings I want on the foot of the pillar. Using 2 different reference images I created this detail for the pillar (see the image below)