Rentjong: What area???

kai · 17th June 2010, 08:57 AM

Nice one, Maurice!

All 3 examples seem to be hulu puntung variations.

Gavin's piece almost resembles the hulu dandan style. Blade is apparently heavily worn - tough to place this one; the nice scabbard looks fairly typical and I'd guess it's from Aceh if none of the inked motifs suggests otherwise.

Christoph's piece looks odd and the scabbard seems to be a later replacement. I'd really like to see this blade cleaned and lightly stained to bring out the laminations - if it's really antique, I'd believe that the rather stubby blade shape might suggest a Gayo origin. The hilt is also odd but doesn't look like one of those recent oddities fabricated on Java/Madura/Bali...

Maurice's piece is obviously antique and unique. While a status piece, I believe it's original owner was not too affluent: the workmanship of the suasa ferrule is pretty basic and IMHO the hilt suggests that the shape was influenced by the (limited) chunk of ivory available to the craftsman. Thus, I'm not sure we can glean much on it's origin from these features except that it probably doesn't came from any center of power. However, the scabbard this piece had with it is one of the most flaboyant wooden examples I've seen! If really original to this rencong it might indeed point to a Gayo origin...

Maybe Erik can post some pics of the scabbard here?

Regards,
Kai

17th June 2010, 08:57 AM	#6
kai Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 3,255	Nice one, Maurice! All 3 examples seem to be hulu puntung variations. Gavin's piece almost resembles the hulu dandan style. Blade is apparently heavily worn - tough to place this one; the nice scabbard looks fairly typical and I'd guess it's from Aceh if none of the inked motifs suggests otherwise. Christoph's piece looks odd and the scabbard seems to be a later replacement. I'd really like to see this blade cleaned and lightly stained to bring out the laminations - if it's really antique, I'd believe that the rather stubby blade shape might suggest a Gayo origin. The hilt is also odd but doesn't look like one of those recent oddities fabricated on Java/Madura/Bali... Maurice's piece is obviously antique and unique. While a status piece, I believe it's original owner was not too affluent: the workmanship of the suasa ferrule is pretty basic and IMHO the hilt suggests that the shape was influenced by the (limited) chunk of ivory available to the craftsman. Thus, I'm not sure we can glean much on it's origin from these features except that it probably doesn't came from any center of power. However, the scabbard this piece had with it is one of the most flaboyant wooden examples I've seen! If really original to this rencong it might indeed point to a Gayo origin... Maybe Erik can post some pics of the scabbard here? Regards, Kai