Cirebon or Sunda sword? Opinion requested!

[Sajen]

Have gotten a very nice laminated Cirebon or Sunda sword, I am unsure about this, maybe someone will be able to tell me the exact origin. The scabbard fittings and handle ferrule are from silver, the Makara handle is from wood with inlaid eyes but sadly missing it's crown which was maybe from silver as well. The sword is 81 cm long in it's scabbard, blade length 63 cm and the blade is 10 mm thick near the handle.
All comments are very welcome!

[Sajen]

Some more pictures

[kai]

Hello Detlef,

Congrats, a very nice piece, indeed! Let me know if you ever get bored with it... ;)

I'd go with a generic Sunda attribution - I'm not convinced that it is possible to identify specific Cirebon features with swords that apparently had a pretty wide distribution probably including Sunda-influenced areas in southern Sumatra.

I'd guess that the "crown" was a flat or slightly embossed piece of silver. Not sure how it was attached traditionally - looks like it was merely glued in this case?

BTW, I'd love to see this blade etched!

Regards,
Kai

[danny1976]

Hi Detlef ,

Nice one !
I will stay on the safe side also with the origin of this sword , West Java / Sunda :D

[danny1976]

Here is a simmilar hilt on a Sunda sword i have ( bad photo )

[Sajen]

Congrats, a very nice piece, indeed! Let me know if you ever get bored with it... ;)

Thank you Kai! Will inform you when I ever get bored with it but this can need a long time! ;)

I'd go with a generic Sunda attribution - I'm not convinced that it is possible to identify specific Cirebon features with swords that apparently had a pretty wide distribution probably including Sunda-influenced areas in southern Sumatra.

I suspect that you are correct by this point but have hoped that someone would be able to distinguish between this both areas.

I'd guess that the "crown" was a flat or slightly embossed piece of silver. Not sure how it was attached traditionally - looks like it was merely glued in this case?

Agree with you that it was a silver crown and yes, it seems that it was only glued, there are no holes for pins visible.

BTW, I'd love to see this blade etched!

I am as well like some other blades from my collection but there is some more polishing needed. In the moment I am happy that all surface rust is removed. ;) :D

Regards,
Detlef

[Sajen]

Nice one !
I will stay on the safe side also with the origin of this sword , West Java / Sunda :D

Hi Danny, thank you as well! Would you like to show us the complete sword?

Best,
Detlef

[danny1976]

Hi Detlef ,

Here the complete sword , simple one .
And also a photo of a scabbard tip from a Sunda parang .
It has the same leaf motive

Regards,
Danny

[Sajen]

Thank you Danny, it's every time good to see other examples! It seems that you like I am in need to clean blades! :D ;)

From which other Sunda sword are the close up from the scabbard fittings in silver?

Regards,
Detlef

[Gavin Nugent]

I'd always thought these to be Sunda sword.

Here is another carved hilt type. The blade on this example carries a keris feature, a kembang kacang.

Gavin

[Sajen]

Hello Gavin,

yes, a typical early Sunda hilt. I think that we can say that Cirebon is culturally intimately connected with Sunda.
Can we see the blade please?

Regards,
Detlef