Board ID?

[Gustav]

David, you probably are wright (but the tongue stays strange )

[David]

Thanks Gustav. That is pretty much how i suspected this board was used.
Anyone else have any ideas what tribe this might be from?

[Marcokeris]

There are many Dayak tribes in Borneo (Kayan, Keniah, Iban, Bahau, Modang......) Sometimes also local (or made by Kalimantan carvers) keris handles are influenced by these tribe patterns.

[David]

Originally Posted by Marcokeris

There are many Dayak tribes in Borneo (Kayan, Keniah, Iban, Bahau, Modang......) Sometimes also local (or made by Kalimantan carvers) keris handles are influenced by these tribe patterns.

Yes, i realize there are many different tribes. That's why i was hoping that someone here might recognize this style of carving and be able to nail it down to a specific one.

[Marcokeris]

This ancestor Aso motif can be seen in a lot of book about Borneo tribes art .. all written in english language with many pics and also accurate description about meaning and symbolism (for example: hornbill and dragon, borneo and beyond, the eloquent dead,.... ).
IMO to put a keris on this kind of board is the same to put a little ET in crib...but of course is only my personal taste


...Here some keris hits with (i suppose) borneo patterns

[David]

Originally Posted by Marcokeris

This ancestor Aso motif can be seen in a lot of book about Borneo tribes art .. all written in english language with many pics and also accurate description about meaning and symbolism (for example: hornbill and dragon, borneo and beyond, the eloquent dead,.... ).
IMO to put a keris on this kind of board is the same to put a little ET in crib...but of course is only my personal taste

Thanks for the examples Marco. I am not too concerned about the cross-culture between keris and board. I wouldn't put a Borneo hilt on a Madura Keris, or for that matter, even a Jawa hilt on one, but as a method to display this keris i am just fine with. If i had a baby ET i would probaby put it in a crib too.
Still i am hoping that we might be able to identify the actual tribe this came from through the particular style of this carving. Maybe i should move this over to the main forum since some of our Dayak experts might not have seen this over here on the keris forum.

[ganjawulung]

How about this "Rangda", ratu leak of Balinese magic world? (A picture from somewhere...)

[BluErf]

Originally Posted by Marcokeris

This ancestor Aso motif can be seen in a lot of book about Borneo tribes art .. all written in english language with many pics and also accurate description about meaning and symbolism (for example: hornbill and dragon, borneo and beyond, the eloquent dead,.... ).
IMO to put a keris on this kind of board is the same to put a little ET in crib...but of course is only my personal taste


...Here some keris hits with (i suppose) borneo patterns

I think the 1st 2 pics are of a Tajong-like hilt produced by non-native carvers. So the motif cannot be considered accurate for Tajongs.

[David]

Okay, just going to reel this in a bit and focus.
I could be wrong, but i don't think that this is an American board depicting the great god the atom Enstein, nor is it from a Malay tajong design or the Maori of New Zealand.
I am fairly sure it is indeed Dayak. I am also fairly sure that it should, to some extent at least, be possible to determine what tribe it is based on the actual design of the carving. I have seen some of our Dayak collectors tell tribal origin of mandaus based on the carving of the hilts so it seems to follow that design styles are specific to certain groups. I would also be very interested in understanding what the purpose of the basket this was attached to might have been. The one Gustav shows might provide some clues to this as it seems to be in a museum. Was there any descriptive labeling?