Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Laowang · 28th May 2017, 03:57 AM

I've been to the Asian Civilizations Museum a few times over the years, when back in Singapore with my wife to visit her family. There's a gallery devoted to the arts of Indonesia and Malaysia, and there's always a good representation of keris on display. I believe they rotate the keris in and out of the gallery, as each time I've been there are different keris.

Although some of the other weaponry, such as the mandaus, are generically categorized as "machetes", I believe this is just based on some form of convention, not lack of knowledge on their part. In one particular example from the website, the mandau had the name "machete" but the catalog entry included a lengthy description of its purpose and cultural significance, starting with the proper name mandau. For example, some museums call claymores, katanas, and jians all three "swords", for ease of recognition by visitors.

Regarding quality of the images on the website, my guess is this is strictly a function of data usage. The photographs on the website are disappointingly low resolution (for detailed examination), but they appear to be properly lit, and carefully staged. They have 124,404 items in the digital collection, so you can see why image size could quickly become a problem of digital storage size.

Thanks for pointing out the digital collection, Rasdan, it's nice to know it's there. If you have the chance, I highly recommend visiting the Asian Civilizations Museum.

28th May 2017, 03:57 AM	#7
Laowang Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: 40˚00' N, 83˚00' W Posts: 52	I've been to the Asian Civilizations Museum a few times over the years, when back in Singapore with my wife to visit her family. There's a gallery devoted to the arts of Indonesia and Malaysia, and there's always a good representation of keris on display. I believe they rotate the keris in and out of the gallery, as each time I've been there are different keris. Although some of the other weaponry, such as the mandaus, are generically categorized as "machetes", I believe this is just based on some form of convention, not lack of knowledge on their part. In one particular example from the website, the mandau had the name "machete" but the catalog entry included a lengthy description of its purpose and cultural significance, starting with the proper name mandau. For example, some museums call claymores, katanas, and jians all three "swords", for ease of recognition by visitors. Regarding quality of the images on the website, my guess is this is strictly a function of data usage. The photographs on the website are disappointingly low resolution (for detailed examination), but they appear to be properly lit, and carefully staged. They have 124,404 items in the digital collection, so you can see why image size could quickly become a problem of digital storage size. Thanks for pointing out the digital collection, Rasdan, it's nice to know it's there. If you have the chance, I highly recommend visiting the Asian Civilizations Museum.