Cultural History In Focus | “Pangolin, Rama, and the garden in Lanka in the 9th century CE: A few notes on a symbolically powerful “anteater” by Jiri Jakl

 

A Javanese pangolin
C.H. Japing
1910-1932
TM-60051216
© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

 
 
 

Pangolin, Rama, and the garden in Lanka in the 9th century CE

A few notes on a symbolically powerful “anteater”

 

by Jiří Jákl

 

This article is generously provided by Jiří Jákl and Archipel.

 

Manis javanica
1700-1880
Print
Iconographia Zoologica
Special Collections University of Amsterdam

A Javanese pangolin (Manis Javanica Desen)
Unknown photographer
1930
TM-10006609
© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

Hat or Food Covering?
Early 19th century
Palm leaf, wood, pangolin scales
Donated by South Kensington Museum in 1869
As.5492
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Wooden Balinese statue of a pangolin
ca. 1930-1947
TM-3525-95
© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

Pangolin
C.H. Japing
TM-60026811
© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

A Javanese pangolin
C.H. Japing
1910-1932
TM-60051224
© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

Breast Shield
Borneo
Before 1883
RV-401-38
© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

Sunda Pangolin feeding in a branch.
Pangombusan, Parmaksian, Kabupaten Toba Samosir, Sumatera Utara
Frendi Apen Irawan

Anatomische Untersuchungen über die Edentaten, 1852
Wilhelm Ludwig von Rapp, 1794-1868
Smithsonian Libraries

Food Covering
Palembang
Before 1887
TM-A-2548
© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

Breast Shield
Borneo
Before 1884
RV-454-16
© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

Dayak Shield | Kliau
Borneo
1875-1925
TM-1772-945
© Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen

Caṇḍi Śiwa relief at Prambanan showing a pangolin (bottom, to the right).
Credit: Véronique Degroot.

Sleeveless war jacket or cuirass
Circa early 19th century
Pangolin skin, barkcloth, hide
Purchased from Royal United Services Institute in 1869
As1896,-.1189
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Colophon

Author | © Jiří Jákl
Publication | Archipel, Vol. 97, p. 69-86
Date of Publication | June 11, 2019

 
Cultural History In Focus, News 15Jiří JáklArt of the Ancestors, Steven G. Alpert, Asian Art, Island Southeast Asian Art, Oceanic Art, Asiatica, Ethnographica, Ethnographic Art, Art Collection, Fine Art, Primitive Art, Indonesian Art, Tribal Art, Eyes of the Ancestors, Dr. Reimar Schefold, Cultural History in Focus