Latest / The Khmer Empire: The Lost Civilization Behind Angkor Wat — Fexingo History / The Teardrop Locket: Khmer Jewelry and Royal Power
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about the big stuff — temples, water works, the rise and fall of kings. But today I want to focus on something small, intimate, and incredibly beautiful: jewelry. Luna: Oh, I love this. What kind of jewelry did the Khmer wear? Lucas: Well, from the bas-reliefs at Angkor Wat and Bayon, we see royal figures and dancers adorned with elaborate necklaces, earrings, armlets, and diadems. But there's one particular piece that stands out — the teardrop-shaped locket called the "koun". It's a pendant that hangs from a necklace, often depicted on apsaras and queens. Luna: Koun? Is that related to the word for child? I heard somewhere that "koun" means child in Khmer. Lucas: Exactly right. "Koun" does mean child, and the pendant is shaped like a teardrop or a lotus bud — it's thought to symbolize fertility and lineage. These were not just decorative; they were charged with meaning, worn by the elite to signal their connection to the divine and the royal bloodline. Lucas: The Khmer were master metalworkers. They used gold, silver, bronze, and also imported materials like rock crystal, carnelian, and agate from India and beyond. The techniques included granulation — tiny gold spheres fused onto a surface — and filigree, delicate twisted wires. Luna: So they had access to a global trade network. Did any of their jewelry survive? Lucas: Surprisingly, very little. Most gold and precious pieces were looted over centuries. But we have some remarkable exceptions. In 2017, a hoard of jewelry was discovered at the remote temple of Banteay Chhmar in northwestern Cambodia. It included gold rings, earrings, and fragments of what might have been a royal headdress. Lucas: The hoard was found by archaeologists from the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and the Global Heritage Fund. They were clearing rubble when they uncovered a ceramic pot filled with gold objects. It's one of the few intact collections of Angkorian jewelry ever found. Luna: Wow, a pot of gold — literally. What did the earrings look like? Lucas: The earrings are called "chhoem" — they're heavy, conical ornaments that stretched the earlobe. On the bas-reliefs, you see apsaras and queens wearing these massive earrings that almost touch their shoulders. They were made of gold sheet and sometimes inlaid with gemstones. Lucas: But the koun pendant — the teardrop locket — might have had a more intimate function. Some scholars think they could hold a small relic or a piece of inscribed cloth, like a miniature amulet. They were worn close to the heart, perhaps as a protective talisman. Luna: So they were like lockets before lockets were a thing. Did common people wear jewelry too? Lucas: From the Chinese emissary Zhou Daguan's account, we know that commoners wore cotton cloth and little else. But they did wear bracelets and anklets made of bronze or copper — simpler versions of what the elite wore. The real luxury goods were reserved for the court and the temples. Lucas: One fascinating detail: Zhou Daguan noted that Khmer women of all classes wore their hair up in a bun, decorated with flowers and combs. And they loved to perfume themselves with sandalwood and musk. Jewelry was the finishing touch. Luna: I'm picturing the Angkor Wat dancers — all that gold catching the sunrise. Did the French explorer Étienne Aymonier document any of this? Lucas: Good catch. Étienne Aymonier, who traveled through Cambodia in the late 19th century, wrote detailed descriptions of the bas-reliefs and even collected some jewelry from local villagers. But his notes are frustratingly vague on the pieces themselves. Still, his work is invaluable. Lucas: More recently, the Angkorian Jewelry Project — a collaboration between Cambodian and French researchers — has been using scientific analysis to study surviving fragments. They've found that some gold objects were made locally, while others show Indian or Chinese influences in their alloy composition. Luna: So the Khmer weren't just importing — they had their own workshops. Lucas: Exactly. And the quality is stunning. The granulation on some pieces is so fine that you need a magnifying glass to see the individual spheres. It's a level of craftsmanship that rivals anything from the Byzantine or Islamic worlds at the time. Lucas: What's also poignant is how many of these objects were deliberately buried. The Banteay Chhmar hoard, for instance, was hidden in a pot — possibly during a time of danger, like the invasion by Ayutthaya in 1431. The owners never came back for it. Luna: So these treasures are like time capsules. Did they find any koun pendants in that hoard? Lucas: Not exactly a koun, but they found small gold beads and pendants that might have been part of a necklace. The koun shape is actually quite rare in surviving pieces — most of what we know comes from the stone carvings. That makes it all the more mysterious. Lucas: Think about it: these lockets were worn by queens like Indradevi, the wife of Jayavarman VII. She was a scholar and a poet. What might she have kept inside her koun? A lock of hair from her husband? A piece of palm leaf with a prayer? Luna: That's a beautiful image. And it tells us so much about what they valued. Lucas: Exactly. Jewelry isn't just decoration — it's identity, protection, and memory. And for the Khmer, it was also a statement of cosmic order. Kings wore diadems with multiple tiers, symbolizing Mount Meru. Earrings with lotus motifs echoed the idea of purity emerging from mud. Lucas: So when we look at a tiny koun pendant, we're not just seeing a bauble — we're seeing a worldview. And that's why I wanted to talk about it today. Luna: Thanks, Lucas. I'll never look at those apsaras the same way again.