Hullo AM,
Thanks for your response!
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The view on pamor depends on what school one follows and also on how much of a purist one is. Generally, for the Soenda who were focused on spirituality, the end pamor was incidental, a gift from the gods and accepted as such.
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Yup, I reckon that's the usual approach from a client's perspective.
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Also, remember that the Soenda came under Mataram in the 17thC.
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Seems the same influence can be seen in southern Sumatra, too...
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To me, a non-random pamor tends to point more towards a post-16thC period.
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Do you possibly have any Sunda examples with complex pamor from these earlier periods including Majapahit that you could kindly share? These seem to be very rare, indeed!
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The quality of the blades also seems to have suffered somewhat as it approached modern times.
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This seems to be a general trend throughout the archipelago (certainly with exceptions and different time-frames). Is it possible to delimit any corresponding periods for western Java?
BTW, any chance that the relatively early availability of European steel contributed to this? Any indications that there developed a split between "tool" blades from monosteel and more traditionally forged pusaka blades?
Regards,
Kai