The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 20, 2024
Palanquin Hook
1175–1230
Overall: 17.4 cm (6 7/8 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1982.12
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
In the middle of the hook, a figure holding a sword in one hand and his extended leg in the other is in a dance pose expressing vigorous attack.Description
When members of the royal family or priesthood traveled in a public festival procession or to a temple like Banteay Chhmar to make offerings 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 hook once supported a bronze ring from which hung a seat, like a hammock or swing. A wooden pole would have passed through the hollow socket at the top and was carried on the shoulders of bearers.
The hook segment ends in the face of a garuda, a man-eagle with a prominent beak, stylized wings, and feathers. Figures indicative of devotion and success, including pairs of elephants, crown the fitting.
- ?–1982(Spink & Son, Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1982–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review for 1982.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 70, no. 1, 1983, pp. 3–55. Mentioned: p. 55, no. 124 25159799
- Beyond Angkor: Cambodian Sculpture from Banteay Chhmar. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 14, 2017-March 25, 2018).The Year in Review for 1982. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 5-February 6, 1983).
- {{cite web|title=Palanquin Hook|url=false|author=|year=1175–1230|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1982.12