sundang

[kai]

Hello Amuk,

From the photos, my first guess is that the blade was made for a lesser notable (possibly ceremonial) from Sabah/North Borneo. Age probably 18thC or earlier.

Hmm, IMVHO the scroll work is way to fancy for a 19th century piece, much less for a 18th c. piece (regardless of origin, I suppose).

I also have no clue what features would suggest a Sabah origin? AFAIK, most blades from there are obviously of traditional Sulu style with a notable minority of Mindanao style blades thrown in (trade as well as Illanum connection). Anyway, users of these kris would be Moro with close (political and economical) ties to the Sulu sultanate. Not much room for ideosyncratic styles, I guess. Even early collected pieces from western collections with provenance from other regions on Borneo (mainly Kalimantan Timur and Brunei) seem to exhibit conservative Moro styles rather than unique variations.

OTOH, the base features of this blade include several details which do not seem to be Moro at all (will try to edit a pic to show the details I mean). My bet would be Sumatra but I wouldn't rule out the Peninsula either.

Incidentally, the closest to the greneng of this piece seem to be exhibited by Sharial's keris:

More pics here!
Discussion on this keris.

Cleaning and etching this keris sundang blade may yield additional insights into this mystery, I guess.

Regards,
Kai