Collection of the Rietberg Museum Zurich
 

I was recently in Zurich and visited the Rietberg Museum, which has a truly extensive ethnographic collection. Unfortunately, ethnographic weapons are in the minority and are mostly kept in storage, although this is open to visitors. In addition to a few edged weapons from Indonesia, there are also a few keris there, although they can only be seen in their scabbards. However, they do have a fairly extensive collection of hilts. Here are a few not-so-good photos I'd like to share with you.

A few more! In post #1 is one pic twisted, here it's again correctly shown.

Thanks for showing these. Seems a strange way for a museum to display both the keris and especially the hilts. Simple stands to display all these hilts upright is not a large cost and they would look much better.

WoW
 

The mass of hilts probably came from a person who collected only them. :eek:
Detlef, are we looking at one shelf of handles or are there two shelves there?

Hello David,

The "display" is the storage room which is free for visitors. But agree, they would look much better on stands.

Hello Rick,

Very good possible, a lot of their objects coming from private collections. There are two shelves. :)

Regards,
Detlef

Please let me know if they ever have a de-accession sale or auction. ;)

:D:D I would stay in the first row. ;)