Cleveland Museum of Art

Palanquin Hook

Date

1175–1230

Medium

bronze

Culture

Cambodia, probably Angkor

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

When members of the royal family or priesthood traveled in a public festival procession or to a temple 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. 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.

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