Artwork Page for Palanquin Ring

Details / Information for Palanquin Ring

Palanquin Ring

1100s–1200s

Cambodia, probably Angkor

Medium
bronze
Measurements
Overall: 24.1 x 23 x 6.5 cm (9 1/2 x 9 1/16 x 2 9/16 in.)
Weight: 2.58 kg
Credit Line
Gift of Dr. Norman Zaworski 2011.151
Public Domain
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Location
244 Indian and Southeast Asian
Print

Description

When members of the royal family or priesthood traveled in a public festival procession to make offerings at a temple or participate in a ceremony, they would be carried in a palanquin, or a covered litter. Portable objects of veneration, such as bronze images or a sacred fire, were also carried on palanquins. The palanquins had wooden poles, hanging seats or raised platforms, and bronze fittings cast in intricate forms and gilt, lending the palanquins a sumptuous quality.

This ring, which supported a suspended seat, would have hung on a hook attached to a wooden pole.

The body of the ring is shaped in the form of a pair of nagas, or serpents. The flanges, or protrusions, on the top and sides are stylized spines of the serpent’s body, and the heads rear up on either side. In a richly textured cluster of separately cast figures on both sides of the ring are images of composite bird-human, monkey-human, and elephant forms.
Muted green ring with a serpent with spines arcing over the top, a smooth arc at the bottom, and either side parallel clusters of figures with bird-human, monkey-human, and elephant forms. Wings and clothes are detailed with curving lines, cross-hatched lines, and dots, more serpent spines sticking out from the side.

Palanquin Ring

1100s–1200s

Cambodia, probably Angkor

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