Piggy Bank (1300s–1400s): Art, History and Details

Piggy Bank (1300s–1400s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Do I look familiar to you? My round and exaggerated form makes me perfect for storing precious coins, which could be inserted through the slot (now closed) on the hump of my back. My fierce expression is a warning to scare off any burglars, and the padlock and chain around my neck indicate my function as a personal bank. Yes, I am a piggy bank—a lucky one that has survived intact for over 500 years! Usually we end up broken by people who want our coins.

Object facts

• Title: Piggy Bank
• Date: 1300s–1400s
• Culture: Java, Majapahit Dynasty
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: terracotta
• Dimensions: Overall: 24.2 cm (9 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Javanese Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1980.16

A detail from the museum

The word for piggy bank in Eastern Java is tjèlèngan, meaning ‘wild boar.’

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Kathman, Barbara A. A Cleveland Bestiary. Cleveland, OH; Cleveland Museum of Art, 1981.
• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1980.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 68, no. 6 (June 1981): 163–219.
• Neils, Jenifer. The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Museum in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1982.

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.