old style barung! Borneo?

[Maurice]

Here my latest addition to my collection which I am very fond of.
I was looking for such old style barung for a long time. And suddenly two of them popped up, but I only got this one unfortunately!

Features:
The scabbard is very broad, but in very good condition.

The cacatua pommel is also made of a very nice wood. Unfortunately a part of the beak and the crest had been broken off a long time ago, cause the breaks have a lot of patina on it.

The sleeve is made of horn, something I have never seen on a barung (I think there are a few in the Leiden museum with a horn sleeve, but it is hard to see on the database images). The horn has a big crack, but happily still there.

The blade was very dirty. I decided just to clean it a little of the worst dirt and rust, and than give it a slight etch with vinegar.
During etching a hardened edge popped up and also some lamination on the blade.

Any input/suggestions of which region it could derive?

Maurice

[Sajen]

Hi Maurice,

I have no clue from where it is but I like it very much. Also when the outer tips of the pommel are broken is it just beautiful. Is it possible to fix the sleeve again?

Regards,

Detlef

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Hi Maurice,

I have no clue from where it is but I like it very much. Also when the outer tips of the pommel are broken is it just beautiful. Is it possible to fix the sleeve again?

Hi Detlef,

Yes indeed beautifull. But when the outer tips were recent break offs, I wouldn't be interested in it (I can be a very strange collector considering some features I especially don't want on an item in my collection, and recent breakoffs are one of them). But happily these were old breaks...

The horn sleeve has a very old crack (which is normal on horn, as we can often see on Atjeh klewangs). The crack is over the whole length of the horn, and just connected with one fiberpiece of horn (see attached image).
I leave it just as it is. It gives character to the barung.

The horn sleeve was very firm attached around the handle when I got it, and there wasn't any tolerance. Despite my precautions of taping and protecting the handle/pommel during etching, the sleeve was getting loose and there is tolerance now after the etching. I guess it was glued once which now came loose because of the heat.
But happily there are no gluerests I can see, and I am not wiggling a lot with the sleeve. I will put the barung away very soon to prevent the horn get damaged irreversible.

Maurice

[Battara]

This is a nice piece and I believe it is from Borneo. They sometimes used horn for their sleeves (punto). The wideness of the scabbard and style also indicate Borneo as far as I understand.

[migueldiaz]

nice barung, maurice. congrats! the one in juynboll's catalogue (pic below) has a similar (broad) scabbard 'throat'. perhaps you can find out the details from the catalogue and share it to us?

when i went to museo oriental in valladolid in spain, they also have two of such barungs which scabbards are almost exactly the same as yours -- i.e., wide 'throat' (upper part of scabbard), and stylized butt end (bottom of scabbard). the museum's curators strike me as meticulous in their description of their items. thus perhaps your barung is filipino after all. but the two barungs have the traditional silver sleeve, by the way.

i'd really be interested in how juynboll described the barung below. thanks in advance!

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by migueldiaz

nice barung, maurice. congrats! the one in juynboll's catalogue (pic below) has a similar (broad) scabbard 'throat'. perhaps you can find out the details from the catalogue and share it to us?

when i went to museo oriental in valladolid in spain, they also have two of such barungs which scabbards are almost exactly the same as yours -- i.e., wide 'throat' (upper part of scabbard), and stylized butt end (bottom of scabbard). the museum's curators strike me as meticulous in their description of their items. thus perhaps your barung is filipino after all. but the two barungs have the traditional silver sleeve, by the way.

i'd really be interested in how juynboll described the barung below. thanks in advance!

Thank you Lorenz!
When looking in the database of the Leiden museum you find several with that broad scabbards. I attached an image of an old photo exposition ca 1885, where also is depicted a barung with similar scabbard.

Unfortunately I don't have the Juynbolls myself, so I am not able to look it up right away. Maybe another forumite can share it with us?

There is one in the Leiden database with a clear punto made of partly horn and partly brass.

Maurice

[David]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Also when the outer tips of the pommel are broken is it just beautiful.

HuH???
While it wouldn't necessarily be a deal breaker for me in this case i would have to say the exact opposite, that is, what a shame that the tips are broken. I see no particular beauty in the brokenness itself.
I do like this barong regardless though...

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by David

HuH???
While it wouldn't necessarily be a deal breaker for me in this case i would have to say the exact opposite, that is, what a shame that the tips are broken. I see no particular beauty in the brokenness itself.
I do like this barong regardless though...

Sorry, this is maybe a missunderstanding David since english isn't my native language. I have meant that the barung is just beautiful although the tips of the pommel are broken! Hope this is a better description of my conclusion.

[David]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Sorry, this is maybe a missunderstanding David since english isn't my native language. I have meant that the barung is just beautiful although the tips of the pommel are broken! Hope this is a better description of my conclusion.

Thanks for clearing that up Sajen, you did have me wondering...