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Originally Posted by ZhenjieWu
JOSH
The formal name of Bao An people is Bonan ethnic minority group, whose home is mainly at the foot of JiShi mountain, almost at the boundary of GanSu and QingHai province . The population of Bonan ethnic minority group is about 16,505. Their local language belong to Mongolian Austronesian. Their religion is Islam. In China, Bonan ethnic minority group is famous for their man-made knives-Bonan Dao.
I will post some typical pictures of Bonan Dao and Tibetan Dao.
ZhenJie Wu
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Well it wasn't my knife that started the discussion, but the Bonan knives you posted look just like the one I have, including the engraving of the hand on the blade of one of them. Thank you for helping to identify this distinct style. The long dao I posted is certainly of the Eastern Tibetan style and comes from the same region. I think more and more things are coming out of QingHai and the Gansu border region. It is fascinating to see the confluence of Tibetan, Mongolian, and ethnic styles. The Yi things you posted are almost certainly from approximately the same region. (the second one you posted belonged to a friend of mine, I love how small the collecting world is.) The Tibetan long dao from that region show similarities to the weapons of the other regional ethnic groups in the copper/brass work, and in the lack of a guard on many of the long dao.
(
http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...rrent=01-3.jpg
and
http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...ation383-1.jpg).
Others that do have a guard seem to use more bone and horn than Tibetan things from further west
(
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j65/pekhopai/10.jpg
and see the one I already posted on this thread).
One thing I have noticed is that the folding seems more refined than the usual bold lines of Tibetan hairpin construction.
(
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...duation388.jpg)
(
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j65/pekhopai/07.jpg)
Notice how on this second one each dark line is actually made of many separate folds.
However, the Yi things I have seen, and the one I have, show stronger lines typical of Tibetan things from further west.
(
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...duation374.jpg)
(
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...duation375.jpg)
I suspect that the Yi may have traded for their blades.
Thanks again for the extremely informative posts. I am beginning to get the sense of a regional style shared by several peoples each with their own characteristics. This is ethnographic weapons at its best!
Josh