Ethnographic Arms & Armour - Indonesian pedang for identification

Hello Peter,

Thanks for chiming in!

Quote:

The piece seems to be from Sumbawa, east of Lombok. Indonesian collectors call them Pedang Sumbawa.

Who are the collectors you're speaking of?

Sumbawa received a very heavy dose of cultural input from Gowa.

As already mentioned, blades from Sulawesi (especially its Southeast) were heavily traded throughout the eastern islands; it would not surprise me to also find some on Sumbawa, too.

Quote:

The area was outside of colonial control until the 20th century and was home to many traders of various areas from Indonesia, which explains the eclectic mix of styles seen on some of them.

Actually there is hardly any stylistic feature which allows a positive identification of any blade originating from Sumbawa. I'd really like to hear what features this attribution was based on!

Most swords attributed to Sumbawa in AvZ are actually based on traditional styles already established by Gowa (or other ethnic groups from South[west] Sulawesi).

Regards,
Kai