Riders on the Throne: Animal Agency in Benedetto Antelami’s Parma Cathedra

Abstract

This article focuses on Parma Cathedral’s episcopal throne, which is an exemplar among cathedrae with animal imagery. Embodying the more abstract aspects of their owners’ authority, animals occupy a prominent place within the seat’s decoration, thereby distilling the human–animal relationship in a way that links the legitimization of power to the act of sitting. Despite its extraordinary iconography and quality, the throne made by Benedetto Antelami (ca. 1178) is still relatively obscure. It is adorned with atlas figures carved in the round and two equestrian reliefs on the armrests, which connect riding to dominion and power while simultaneously transforming the act of enthroning and dethroning into a kind of allegory. Against the background of a more general discussion of animal depictions on medieval chairs, this article addresses new questions concerning the Parma cathedra’s animal décor, its object biography, patron, and possessor, as well as its place and role within the liturgy.