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Originally Posted by TVV
Well, for one thing, I do not believe the pictured sword is Moroccan. I believe it is actually from East Africa, possibly Zanzibar. There was of course, significant Portuguese presence there, even more so than Morocco.
Since the description starts with an error in the attribution, it is kind of hard to accept the conclusions of the author without questioning them. That being said, the European influence is undeniable - the ring guard for example.
As for the dragon quillons on Ceylonese swords, one has to be careful prior to jumping to conclusions. I am attaching a picture of a Timurid (pre 1500) Central Asian nephrite sword guard from the Met collections. The kastane guard therefore could be Asian, and not European inspired.
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Salaams TVV SEE #53. Indeed it is not Moroccan, but Zanzibari yes. As noted in #53.
Regarding hilts please see
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...680#post218680
and the post I have just completed at # 67 above.
In reference to the hilt, guard, quilons and rainguard ... In fact the entire hilt and all of the Deities ...This is a purely Buddhist inspired item. but you could argue some likeness in the shape of the knuckle guard although others could counter it was simply parallel development ...I could live with similarities in the guard and of course the blades may be European but the rest of the sword is Sri Lankan with heavy notes of Buddhism in the hilt.