Sword from the lesser Sunda islands (Timor?)

[Sentrad]

Dear members,
though I am a member since 2010, due to some reasons my first post is following only now.

I think Karel Sirag has given about the Alor sword in this thread a very in depth going comment about this “megalomaniac” big sword. So just only some shorts notes from my side:

I am lucky to have got this big sword into my hands (Alor 1) and another one with some similarities, but no carvings at the scabbard mouth (Alor 2). Both of them are very top-heavy and difficult to handle, and a usual swordplay is not possible.

I had checked the foot of Alor 1, which was definitely a not well made repair, pre-sumably made in Indonesia. As Karel Sirag mentioned, the buntut of the swords of this region are like fat commas or shoe-shaped, but this is rounded. Normally repairs are made after existing pieces, so there is at least the opportunity that there are vari-eties with such a scabbard point.

Alor 2 has the length of 98.0 cm with scabbard, 86.7 cm without scabbard and the blade measures 61.5 cm. The blade is a common one, no watered steel. The mouth-piece of the scabbard and the sarong is out of very heavy hard wood kaju hitam. It is rectangular as Alor 1 and not square, but without any carvings. The foot consists out of one piece of wood and it is rounded as Alor 1. On one side of the foot there is a rough carving of a sun motive. For me it looks original in all parts, the blade is fitting to the scabbard and the wrapping has a nice patina.

So it looks for me, that there could be a subtype of this Alor sword with a variation of the foot.

A word to the carvings of the mouthpiece of Alor 1:
Vatter [lit. 4, page 243, plate 79] and Barnes [lit. 3, page 270, Abb. 648] describe the carvings of the only Alor sword collected by Vatter as Naga ornaments. Unfortunate-ly the pics in both books are not very sufficient, but the carvings at Alor 1 are very different from all the other Naga illustrations in Vatter’s book. Within this forum (lit. 7) we can see a similar mouthpiece in a very fine photo, which shows the same motive like Alor 1.

The blades of the swords within the region are made by Muslims; two of the 4 Raja families in Alor are Muslims as well. So perhaps this ornament could be a Muslim motive, the symbol of the Paradise Rivers flowing into the four cardinal directions. It appears often in the Muslim world on objects of utility, for example [lit. 8, page 178-85].

Is there anybody within the community who could give some advice on this subject?

About the name: Some thirty years before Vatter J. Adrian Jacobsen travelled within Nusa tenggara timur. He was a Norwegian ship captain commissioned by one of the world largest and very famous Ethnological Museum in Berlin, former Museum fuer Voelkerkunde. He did so much in getting ethnographical pieces from Indonesia and later the northern coasts of North America, that still until today a memorial plate in the museum commemorates him. He names that Alor sword rugi-glawang and within his book is a nice sketch of an Alor warrior [lit. 9, page 93].

Udo

(7)
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...highlight=rugi

(8)
Alantar, Hüseyin
Die Sprache der Motive
Istanbul 2007, Yorum Yayincilik; 304pp., numerous colour illstr., bibliography. Ger-man text.

(9)
Jacobsen, Johann Adrian
Reise in die Inselwelt des Banda Meeres
Berlin 1896, Mitscher & Röstell; 271 pp., numerous b/w illstr., German text.


The pics show the status sword in comparison wth a normal rugi, both status swords, Alor 2 (four pics) and an Alor warrior.

[kai]

Hello Udo,

welcome to the non-lurking members guild of the forum!

Thanks for sharing the 2nd example of what may well be another pattern of these swords and all the effort you put into posting it!

Despite their vibrant tribal appeal, I believe the swords from Nusa Tenggara Timur are undercollected. It's great to have another enthusiast studying these!

I am lucky to have got this big sword into my hands (Alor 1) and another one with some similarities, but no carvings at the scabbard mouth (Alor 2).

Could you please also post close-ups of the back of the scabbard foot and mouth as well as close-ups of the hilt? TIA!

So it looks for me, that there could be a subtype of this Alor sword with a variation of the foot.

I hope we'll come across a third example to confirm this really is another traditional pattern. Surik (II) from Timor can have a round scabbard foot and there also is another type of scabbard with almost symmetrical albeit kinda rectangular foot (AvZ Figs. 580+581; somewhat alluding to styles seen on Sulawesi). Thus, esthetics in the region seem to be compatible with a round or symmetrical finial, too.

BTW, any provenance or other details known for example #2?

The blades of the swords within the region are made by Muslims; two of the 4 Raja families in Alor are Muslims as well. So perhaps this ornament could be a Muslim motive, the symbol of the Paradise Rivers flowing into the four cardinal directions. It appears often in the Muslim world on objects of utility, for example [lit. 8, page 178-85].

Is there anybody within the community who could give some advice on this subject?

I need to hit the books first.

I'd expect Muslim influence to concentrate on the coastal regions whereas Karel posits that this is an traditional Alor motif suggesting an origin from the center of the island. This doesn't preclude it having outside roots though.

He names that Alor sword rugi-glawang and within his book is a nice sketch of an Alor warrior [lit. 9, page 93].

Yes, Rugi seems to be an old name, too. Obviously, glawang is an alternative transliteration of the generic (pan-Indo/Malay) term klewang.


Thanks again for your posting and keep it coming! BTW, I notified Karel of your contribution and hope he'll chime in again, too.

Regards,
Kai

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by kai

BTW, any provenance or other details known for example #2?

Hello Kai,

this one coming primarily some years ago from an Austrian seller who living on Bali and was in the collection of a man from Berlin and was lately offered to me.

Regards,
Detlef