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Originally Posted by mandaukudi
HI Dimitry,
That's turning the history upside down a little as the parang nabur design was inspired by european sword/sabre models.
I doubt however if in 1740 the parang nabur already existed. The main production was as far as I know 1800-1900.
Motifs etc are far too european to be of Borneo origin.
Other thing is that there where enough high skilled smiths in Holland around that time ( 1740) so there was no need to import handles form far.
best wishes,
Arjan
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Not to interrupt conversation, but 100% right about the reverse being true with the parang nabur influence coming from European swords, and I had completely overlooked that in my comments. I know little on these swords but knew of course of VOC presence in those regions.
Apparantly there is some degree of confusion on the sword hilts of brass known as Tonquinese, as the term suggests the regions of now Vietnam. These hilts, typically of smallsword fashion, were made in the Far East between 1710-50 to the order of the VOC (Aylward, 1945, p.57) but the author suggests the Tonquinese term is unlikely as the Dutch withdrew thier factory from Tonquin in 1707. He continues that these were likely made for the Dutch factory in Peking, and afterwards the Company brought some Chinese workmen to Europe, who produced in Amsterdam hilts of similar character fitted with blades made in Holland and in Solingen.
The Tonquinese hilts are made of black shakudo bronze, indeed an alloy used by Japanese artisans of sword furniture, and consisting of antimony, gold and copper in varying proportions. This and the general design fixed by the East India Co. therefore "...follow closely those usual in European made swords of the same period, but the decoration seems to have been left to the fancy of the native artists", however the entry seems to be describing Chinese type foliage.
Since other European sword hilts seem to have followed similar fashion known as 'Chinoserie' (=of Chinese style) in these times, and there are a number of hunting swords with similar shapes seen listed in "Catalog of European Court and Hunting Swords" (Bashford Dean, 1929), it seems that designs and motif of China and the Far East indeed were produced in Europe. In Dean, there are several of these type hunting swords listed as French, and of 'Peking' type work using shakudo.
It would seem that the very stylish green man themed hunting sword is indeed a European sword.
The silver hilted sword said from Vietnam seems plausible as the French had a profound presence there though primarily trade in 18th century, developing into French Indo China in the 19th. French swords strongly influenced the Vietnamese swords by the 19th century particularly with the 'kiem', and this hunting sword may have been a product for French market.