Rembrandt's weapons

ALEX · 8th December 2008, 04:31 PM

Very interesting indeed! Nice research, thanks Peter.
Yes, amazing to see oriental weapons in european paintings, and also amazing to see the keris' form has not changed from 17th to 19th century. The same is true for other oriental weapons, shamshir for example was used for centuries in different continents.
But the question I had was: Keris is Asian weapon, isn't it? All these stories happened in the Middle East areas (Judea and Greece). Why Rembrandt depicted Keris, and not Jambiya-like daggers? I am not arguing with Rembrandt choice of weapons:-), but what am I missing?

8th December 2008, 04:31 PM	#4
ALEX Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 936	Very interesting indeed! Nice research, thanks Peter. Yes, amazing to see oriental weapons in european paintings, and also amazing to see the keris' form has not changed from 17th to 19th century. The same is true for other oriental weapons, shamshir for example was used for centuries in different continents. But the question I had was: Keris is Asian weapon, isn't it? All these stories happened in the Middle East areas (Judea and Greece). Why Rembrandt depicted Keris, and not Jambiya-like daggers? I am not arguing with Rembrandt choice of weapons:-), but what am I missing?