The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

Rectangular pale brown sandstone panel with, on the left, Garuda, a god half human and half eagle, as signified by a beaklike nose and winding, leaf-like wings extending across the background of the panel. Garuda holds the tail of a serpent, extending out and splitting into three heads looking out, teeth bared, on our right. Below Garuda sit two figures amongst the foliage, the one on our left mostly broken away.

Lintel with Garuda

875–925

Cambodia

sandstone
Overall: 52.6 x 118.1 x 17.8 cm (20 11/16 x 46 1/2 x 7 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1967.37
Location: 243 Indian and Southeast Asian

Did You Know?

In the foliage below the Garuda are two tiny female figures, the one on the left badly damaged.

Description

Garuda is half man, half eagle, and the mount of Vishnu. His nose is beaklike, and his wings are carved in an exuberant foliate manner, like the swirling leaves that grow from the stem that arches across the middle of the panel. The vegetation yields female figures and jewels before it resolves itself into the heads of a cobra. Garuda is the natural enemy of the serpents, so he holds their tails in check. This decorative lintel is carved in the style of those made for a temple dedicated to the past kings of the Khmer territories. Derived from India’s use of purifying life-affirming imagery around doorways, this Garuda lintel has been rendered in a distinctively Khmer style.
  • ?–1967
    (Robert Rousset [1901–1982], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1967–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • “Year in Review.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 54, no. 10, 1967, pp. 302–346. Reproduced: p. 332, no. 170; Mentioned: p. 347, no. 170 25152183
    Marcus, Margaret F. “A Cambodian Sculptured Lintel.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 55, no. 10, 1968, pp. 321–330. Reproduced: p. 321; Mentioned: pp. 321–330 25152243
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 242 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 318 archive.org
  • Reinstallation of “Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhan”. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 12, 2024-November 2, 2025).
    Year in Review: 1967. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 29-December 31, 1967).
  • {{cite web|title=Lintel with Garuda|url=false|author=|year=875–925|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1967.37