Different Borneo sword

[Royston]

Just picked this one up.

I say different as it has a couple of unusual features.
First is the hilt. It is wood but not a type that I have seen before from this area. With the strong grain it looks more like a European wood although I would say that the carving was certainly done locally.
I have not seen the square hole before either - any suggestions on it's pupose ? Presumably for decoration , but what went in there ?

The blade is very thick and heavy ( 914 gram ) for it's length. 21 1/2 inches long but 3/8 of an inch thick near the hilt. This would give a seriously heavy blow.

Large Krowit more like that of a Langai tinggan, but very little curvature to the blade.

The inserts are brass.

All comments welcome.

Regards
Roy

[VVV]

Nice catch, Roy!

The square hole is not that unusual (it is used to insert hair tufts), neither is the krowit.

What is very unusual is the tip of this parang and the choice of wood for the hilt.
Do you see any signs of a break or is it originally made like this?
It seems like the blade is flat, is that correct?

From the pictures it seems to me to be an Iban tilan kemarau with a broken tip?
However, the hilt is a bit strange, like you brought up?

Michael

[Maurice]

I think the blade tip is shortened/cut off, which could have been happened a long time ago.
That handle puzzles me though. Looks like the carvings are right. But the "thicker" part near the blade, where the guta percha ring normally is situated, is very strange now as it's carved in wood.?. I don't get the purpose of that.

What makes me ask this question. Is the blade attached into the handle with resin?

[Royston]

Michael, Maurice

That was quick !!

Yes, the blade is flat.

It looks as though it is held in with resin but it is difficult to see. It has been trimmed off close to the blade.

Blade could well be shortened. Not recently though as the edge does not look bright and shiney. I'll try and take a photo.

As you sa a bit unusual, but I like it.

It may be worth mentioning that it came at a price which was way below someone trying to make something out of something else.

Cheers
Roy

[asomotif]

Hello Roy,

Nice unusual mandau. I like it too. (a lot )
All points are already made my Michael and Maurice :-)
Here an example of a hilt with square holes :

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...nese+influence

I am not sure about the blade being shortened.
This could well be original imho.

Best regards,
Willem

[Indianajones]

Hello Roy,
indeed an odd mandau have to say too. Though it all looks perfectly good old n authentic, to be said first. The thing that I have personally also not seen before is the soft type of wood of the handle. The piece is a bit a puzzle to me too;

To my experience the handle has the carvingstyle of the Bahau-tribe on the upper Barito river as they always tend to use those thin vines almost 'framing' all the details of the handle and often ending in a scroll. Though they usually also carve long beaks with teeth (almost looking like horsemouths) but non on this.

The blade on the other hand looks like those from the Murut area who often have those crossbars engraved near the handle and those sections of engravings near the blunt edge. Also those Murutblades do not have the concave shape as most other mandaublades do (especially from Baritoriverregion).

At last your piece looks like a very old example -seen from the type of iron used n thickness- and I have seen more of these very old examples being puzzling to the Borneo-ëxperts. Perhaps its because some of the Dayak tribes (as the Iban) are or were migrating folks?!?

Enjoy it; those puzzling pieces are always so entertaining I think.

Wouter

[VVV]

To keep up the level of terminology it would be preferred if we do not call a parang with a flat blade, as well as when it is coming from NW Borneo, a "mandau".
Why make a blade like this more "puzzling" than it already is by giving it an incorrect (or simplified?) label at a specialized ethnographic forum like this?

Not only the Iban (an externally given name which literary means wanderer/nomad in Kayan language) were migrating, also the blades, hilts and the complete swords migrated all over the region.
When studying the old sources they describe how there was a lot of trading and cross-cultural influences going on between the different tribes in Borneo.

Michael

[Indianajones]

Roy, I happen to stumble upon this piece which has the similar features on the blade and indeed this piece I would also ascribe to the Iban of Sarawak, and than to the North of their region(close to the Murut region). See that this blade also lacks the 'concaveness'.
<<I hope these pics are allowed as my intensions are just of comparative use n it is already sold.>>
Still the style of the gripcarving is quite unlike other grips I've seen n had from this particular area. Although it might explain -as the Kelabit plateau is more elevated- the use of pine?-sort of wood; more growing in higher altitude regions.

Best, Wouter

[Mytribalworld]

Hi ,

thanks for listing this puzzling sword ! Your pics are very good and now it looks a lot more attractive.

For such possibly older unusuall examples we must be carefull with tagging it to a certain tribe. Migrations,trades and headhunting raids hasn't made it easier to determinate such pieces. Fascinating is it too see after seeing some hundreds of mandaus that there are still examples that we haven't seen before.It tells something about seemly endless artistic skills of the people who create them.

If the blade is concave or not doesn't tell anything about the origin IMO.
Both concave and not we see them used among different tribes in a large area. That the blade was once longer is for me no doubt looking to the overall shape. But just that fact is quite seldom as you see that the sword seems to be in use after the break.Seemly for the owner the sword had still value and possibly it was a heirloom of gift.

Wooden hilts are among collectors less valued that antler however they are interesting as the carved is more free to carve what he wants.
What is interesting is that your handle looks to have the overall basic shape of a Kayan hilt ( with larges eyes crossed by arms) but with complete other motifs however the back has a quite kayan looking design.
The main motif seems to be a kind of " hornbill head". Where that is from is again difficult, I see it more or less on an old "Batang Lupar like" sword in my collection but also in other carvings much more to the north.

Another feature ,not yet mentioned, is that the hilts ends are closed, there are no drilled or carved holes in it, so it was seemly mentioned not to attach ( human) hair to it. Maybe it was because the owner was too young and not "powerful" enough to carry hair bundles ? Was that maybe also the reason that this hilt was made out of wood ? Was it maybe a young well skilled boy who got the second hand blade from his father ?

All just speculations of course, sorry


Arjan

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by mandaukudi

Wooden hilts are among collectors less valued that antler however they are interesting as the carved is more free to carve what he wants.

Count me out Arjan! I'm interested in the carvings and not the material of which it was made off.

Originally Posted by mandaukudi

What is interesting is that your handle looks to have the overall basic shape of a Kayan hilt ( with larges eyes crossed by arms) but with complete other motifs however the back has a quite kayan looking design.

It's quite interesting as there are some features which I've seen in Mendalam handles, but here it's just carved a little different and overall missing those clearly aso motifs we see on Mendalam handles often.
(FI the back of the handle of a mendalam handle I attached next to Roy's. It has a similarity as Roy's but also performed a little different)...
A second motif (in the middle on both sides of the handle), we see this strange deeper motif -> In Mendalam handles we often see here a carved vault, with or without teeth and a lot of aso's around (which misses on Roy's though).
PS. I'm NOT implying it's Mendalam, as I'm sure it's not but I see some style copied here, but performed different.
But according the handle my theory (and ofcourse assumption as I've no proof) is that it could be from the Sarawak area above the Mendalam tribes (or from a tribe which had connections with the Mendalam's), considering the motifs on the handle.

Originally Posted by mandaukudi

Another feature ,not yet mentioned, is that the hilts ends are closed, there are no drilled or carved holes in it, so it was seemly mentioned not to attach ( human) hair to it. Maybe it was because the owner was too young and not "powerful" enough to carry hair bundles ? Was that maybe also the reason that this hilt was made out of wood ? Was it maybe a young well skilled boy who got the second hand blade from his father ?

Couldn't think about these speculations myself though.. : )



PS what do you think about the wooden piece instead of the resin ring?

Maurice

[VVV]

Skip my earlier reference because the picture in the Leiden database isn't good enough for the other forumites to see.
Here is one of my Mendalam hilts as a comparison (ex-Arjan's collection).

Michael

[Maurice]

Originally Posted by VVV

For the possible Mendalam similarity of the hilt, check the hilt of 1219-299 in the Leiden database.
I didn't want to bring it up earlier when there was still disagreement about the blade but now maybe is the time to discuss the hilt separately?

Michael

I'll have a look in a minute. I wasn't ready with my former post as I had some trouble with posting an image.

I'll have it posted here than...
Here the second "similarity" I meant to say in my former post, but than also very different...

[Maurice]

Michael, I know what you mean by the Leiden number as I've images of the handle (not to be found in the database)...

Again I see several similarities, but also not performed as usual.
Also there are to be seen motifs we see in handles more to the North (Sarawak), like the square holes at the sides of the handle and the carved veinlets..

Maurice

[Royston]

Sorry

I intended to mention that the blade is indeed flat

Cheers
Roy