Lovely Old Dha/Daab With Some Interesting Characteristics

[CharlesS]

When I first saw this dha/daab I was immediately impressed by the quality of the silverwork. The guard seemed more of a puzzle, though, and looked much like the work I have seen on Vietnamese swords(which are definitely NOT in my area of knowledge). The scabbard wood also reminded me of Vietnamese scabbards for dress swords. With my curiosity piqued, I checked in with one of our resident dha/daab researchers and experts, Nathaniel Hope, to get his input. While I had thought this was a Thai/Vietnamese combination he pointed to a more likely Lao/Vietnamese combination, explaining that the silver artwork and motifs were more typically Lao, but agreeing that the sword had a VERY strong Vietnamese influence.

[Ian]

Charles,

That is an extremely beautiful sword! It has a substantial amount of silver and clearly belonged to someone of considerable wealth and power. A couple of points to add to Nathan's assessment. The silver motifs on the hilt are not repeated on the silver mounts of the scabbard, which suggests to me that the sword and its scabbard were not made at the same time. I would also note that the silver designs on both are not commonly seen on Lao swords, although they may appear on other Lao silver work such as urns, pots, etc. Other possibilities might be southern Yunnan or northern Vietnam. I would like to hear Nathaniel's thoughts on the silver designs as they are outside my experience.

As far as the blade is concerned, I think we are on firmer ground. The unusual tip shape is very much associated with swords of the "Montagnard" groups, the mountain tribal groups straddling the border between Laos and Vietnam, extending to the north into China and to the south into Cambodia. It was common for many of these groups to acquire their daab, or at least the blades, from Lao smiths.

A comment also on the guard. Such multilobe, large discs are found on old Thai and Lao daab, and even some Cambodian daav. It's my belief, without much supporting evidence, that these were based on older Chinese designs that may have come via Yunnan of perhaps northern Vietnam (Cochin).

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Ian

A comment also on the guard. Such multilobe, large discs are found on old Thai and Lao daab, and even some Cambodian daav. It's my belief, without much supporting evidence, that these were based on older Chinese designs that may have come via Yunnan of perhaps northern Vietnam (Cochin).

The materials and decorative technique seen on the motifs of the guard are clearly Vietnamese. Similar inlaid copper work is also seen on the hilt components of Vietnamese kiem (swords with straight double edged blades) and also on the scabbard fittings of some guom (sabers).

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Ian

That is an extremely beautiful sword! It has a substantial amount of silver and clearly belonged to someone of considerable wealth and power. A couple of points to add to Nathan's assessment. The silver motifs on the hilt are not repeated on the silver mounts of the scabbard, which suggests to me that the sword and its scabbard were not made at the same time.

I saw a few of these composite weapons in an exhibit at the Historical Museum in Saigon back in 2007, it dealt with a Vietnamese military campaign up the Mekong River towards the Thai border in the early 19th cent. A couple of them had Vietnamese disc guards (separate comment above) on swords whose components were fashioned and decorated in un-Vietnamese manner. The display captions didn't comment on the weapons themselves other than they were attributed to this event, but my impression from the historical backstory is that the swords were trophies subsequently modified with the addition of the guards to make them conform to the appearance of similar sabers with extended hilts which were long popular in Vietnam, even prior to the Nguyen Dynasty.

Subsequent to the museum visit, an antiques dealer in Saigon showed me a similar one, which unfortunately I was not able to acquire. And a couple years later I noticed one of similar quality to that featured in this thread, in a private collection in Israel of all places, which was not for sale.

[Ian]

Thanks Philip. That's an interesting story. I did not recognize the silver work as Lao, and have little experience with Vietnamese silver designs. It's nice to have your clear ID of its Viet origin.

[DavidFriedman]

Superb specimen!