Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 1st September 2014, 10:02 AM

Everything that STT and Oliver have said is relevant to your question, however, I am unable to be as specific either of these two gentlemen.

Perhaps the very first question to answer is exactly what is meant by "quality" in any particular field.

Are you going to judge quality in accordance with the parameters used by collectors and other authorities who are outside the relevant culture/society, or are you going to judge quality in accordance with the standards used within the culture/society ?

If within the relevant culture/society, will you apply the standards of the people within that society who are recognised arbiters, or will you apply the standards of the general mass?

Then there is the problem of time:- something that is accepted as an object of high quality today, may not have been highly regarded at the time it was produced, and the opposite can also be the case.

Since you are focussed on modern interpretations of traditional weapons, perhaps you need to understand how the people within the relevant society/culture see the weapon in question in today's terms. Has the weapon developed into an art work, has the form developed into something a little different from what it used to be, or are the modern makers attempting to copy and reproduce styles from the past?

Perhaps it may be relevant to use the standards of modern custom cutlers, where you would apply the three "F's" :- fit, finish, functionality.

But if the weapon has developed into an art work, then functionality no longer applies.

I apologise for raising more questions than I have answered, but I do believe that you first need to clarify your collecting objectives, and perhaps the first question you must clarify for yourself is exactly what standards you intend to apply:- the standards within the culture /society, or the standards of collectors who are outside the culture/society.

In my own field of specialisation there can often be a very wide gap between one of the several standards that can apply in Javanese or Balinese society, and the standards that apply amongst collectors outside those societies. All these standards can be argued to be valid, but we need to be clear in our own minds about which standard it is that we apply for our own collecting.

1st September 2014, 10:02 AM	#5
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,704	Everything that STT and Oliver have said is relevant to your question, however, I am unable to be as specific either of these two gentlemen. Perhaps the very first question to answer is exactly what is meant by "quality" in any particular field. Are you going to judge quality in accordance with the parameters used by collectors and other authorities who are outside the relevant culture/society, or are you going to judge quality in accordance with the standards used within the culture/society ? If within the relevant culture/society, will you apply the standards of the people within that society who are recognised arbiters, or will you apply the standards of the general mass? Then there is the problem of time:- something that is accepted as an object of high quality today, may not have been highly regarded at the time it was produced, and the opposite can also be the case. Since you are focussed on modern interpretations of traditional weapons, perhaps you need to understand how the people within the relevant society/culture see the weapon in question in today's terms. Has the weapon developed into an art work, has the form developed into something a little different from what it used to be, or are the modern makers attempting to copy and reproduce styles from the past? Perhaps it may be relevant to use the standards of modern custom cutlers, where you would apply the three "F's" :- fit, finish, functionality. But if the weapon has developed into an art work, then functionality no longer applies. I apologise for raising more questions than I have answered, but I do believe that you first need to clarify your collecting objectives, and perhaps the first question you must clarify for yourself is exactly what standards you intend to apply:- the standards within the culture /society, or the standards of collectors who are outside the culture/society. In my own field of specialisation there can often be a very wide gap between one of the several standards that can apply in Javanese or Balinese society, and the standards that apply amongst collectors outside those societies. All these standards can be argued to be valid, but we need to be clear in our own minds about which standard it is that we apply for our own collecting.