Lampung kris hilt style war canoe prow
 

Hi all,
I acquired what I believe to be a late 18th century south Sumatran war canoe prow some time ago and have had some degree of trouble confirming its place of manufacture. After stumbling across this thread and references to hilts of the Lampung region in Gaspard de Narval’s ‘Ukiran’, the stylistic similarities between the prow and the Jawa Demam hilts of Lampung are the closest I have yet identified. To my eye, the spiral eyes and wing motif are the most similar stylistic traits to that seen on the hilts. The shortage of texts on Lampung carving styles/motifs has left me a little frustrated, so I was hoping for any and all suggestions or thoughts on the prow, including suggested reading.

Any thoughts on tribal origin, motif (Garuda?), symbolism, type of timber (Teak?), or age, would be greatly appreciated. Some incised decoration depicting a bull/buffalo, centipede and possibly a scorpion appear on the neck of the prow (unsure of their symbolic meaning).

Many thanks,

Unk

Hi Unkiemonk and welcome to the forum.
While i see that you are trying to make a comparison to keris hilts, this particular forum is reserved for discussion of keris, so i believe your thread would be better off on the main forum. I would rather not get into a discussion of this artifact in terms of origin, age, and symbolic meaning on this forum as this is obviously not a keris. It is a very interesting artifact though. :)
As for the comparison you are making, i am not sure you have correctly named the type of hilt. Are you thinking of the Lampung bird hilts? The prow of this boat bares no resemblance to any Jawa Demam hilt i have seen from any area as this style of hilt has no wings or well defined spiraling eyes.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=jawa+demam
Are you thinking of the type of hilt in this thread?
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...t=lampung+hilt

This is a Palembang form which might be closer, at least in terms of the eyes. Still, i do not believe this is intended to represent a bird and i don't think the stylized designs are meant as feathers.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=11955