One of a Pair of Decorated Palanquin Hooks and Rings (1100–1175): Art, History and Details

One of a Pair of Decorated Palanquin Hooks and Rings (1100–1175) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Hooks, suspension rings, and finials cast in bronze are very common fixtures in Cambodian decorative art. Frequently they served a practical function, such as the present set, used for a palanquin in which a person was carried from place to place. The litter or throne was fastened to the rings which in turn were suspended from the books fixed by bolts to transverse poles carried on the shoulders of the palanquin bearers. Chariots, palanquins, furniture, and harnesses were frequently embellished with various bronze decorations, finials, and fixtures. Those, as a rule, were gilded making the objects they served look very sumptuous. The relief sculpture found on various Khmer monuments, such as Angkor Wat or Bayon for instance, illustrates well the use and context of those bronze implements in ancient Cambodian life. These frequently elaborate bronze fixtures were decorated with motifs generally popular in Cambodian art: such as nagas, garudas, floral, or animal patterns. This pair of hooks and rings, unusually large in size, take on a naga form in the hooks. They are decorated with perforated floral and animal motifs done with great care and precision. The rings, suspended from hooks, are in the form of tri-fold flower stalks with naga motifs repeated at the end of the curved stalks. Such elaborate and huge hooks and rings must have, no doubt, decorated a palanquin of an important individual, possible a ruler himself. Their decoration is typical of the mature Angkor Wat style.

Object facts

• Title: One of a Pair of Decorated Palanquin Hooks and Rings
• Date: 1100–1175
• Culture: Cambodia, Angkor Wat Style, 12th century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 52.6 x 34.2 x 23 cm (20 11/16 x 13 7/16 x 9 1/16 in.)
• Collection: Cambodian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2011.142.1

A detail from the museum

The naga, a water serpent with a multi-headed hood, is a Khmer national emblem.

Collection credit

Gift of Maxeen and John Flower in honor of Dr. Stanislaw Czuma

Further reading listed by the museum

• “Art of Asia Acquired by North American Museums, 2010-2011.” Archives of Asian Art, vol. 62, 2012, pp. 105–153.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.