Another Klewang Palembang for our Archives

[CharlesS]

This a very nice, almost certainly ceremonial, klewang Palembang(Parang Betino???) from Sumatra.

The hilt is ivory with a worked gold ferrule. The blade is beautifully forged, quite heavy, showing a laminated pattern, a reinforced (Moro shandigan style) edge, and finely chiseled bolster.

The scabbard is new.

Dimensions: 25in. overall, with a 18.5in. blade, and 2.5in. at its widest point.

[VVV]

Nice shopping!

Those klewang are quite rare and to find one with ivory is extremely rare.

Michael

[Andrew]

Really nice, Charles. Thank you for sharing.

[Battara]

Uncle Charles, when you through this away, please call me - remember I'm a trash collector...

[DaveS]

Charles: Fantastic klewang with the best ivory handle of this type that I have seen. Also a really nice laminated blade. The whole piece just can't get any better than that.........Dave.

[kai]

Hello Charles,

A really neat Parang Betino! AvZ shows one example from Willem van der Post's collection in the klewang overview (Fig. 263).

A quite distinctive blade type that resembles the amanremu which may be its northern cousin; the usually present bolster seems pretty unique though.

I agree this is a status piece - still fully functional though. The business examples I've seen come with horn hilts of the same style.

The top end examples like in this thread appear to be status pieces for ceremonial use only.

I do wonder why there are apparently not that many surviving examples and, especially, why a quite considerable proportion seem to be status pieces.

Regards,
Kai

[CharlesS]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Michael...you have a done a great deal on research on correct nomenclature for Indonesian swords. Do you agree with the term "parang betino" here?

[VVV]

The only source for the term parang betino I know of is the book Royal Gifts from Indonesia, p. 175.
However, there it is also claimed that it comes from West Java, which is probably wrong.
Of course, the sword in the book could have been collected in West Java but then the local Sundandese term for a sword from Palembang would not be the best to use in general.
Based on this I prefer not to use the term parang betino myself.

Michael

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by VVV

The only source for the term parang betino I know of is the book Royal Gifts from Indonesia, p. 175.
However, there it is also claimed that it comes from West Java, which is probably wrong.
Of course, the sword in the book could have been collected in West Java but then the local Sundandese term for a sword from Palembang would not be the best to use in general.
Based on this I prefer not to use the term parang betino myself.

Michael

Thanks Michael.

I had wondered about this since I have never seen that term used outside this forum. I do not have that book.

[CharlesS]

Originally Posted by kai

I agree this is a status piece - still fully functional though. The business examples I've seen come with horn hilts of the same style.

Kai,

This may look fully functional, but practically it is not. The heavy blade combined with the narrow hilt of ivory with a weak gold bolster could not take many serious blows.

[Battara]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Kai,

This may look fully functional, but practically it is not. The heavy blade combined with the narrow hilt of ivory with a weak gold bolster could not take many serious blows.

Well although not meant to be a battlefield piece, this is a little stronger than you think. I can tell that it is a layer of gold over a thicker layer of silver, which is wrapped around either steel or ivory.

[T. Koch]

Damn Charles, it's like you shop on a different PLANET from me! Congrats and enjoy!

Cheers, Thor