Lulu Celiko (or something else?)

[kai]

Hello Dave,

Here is a sketch of a Hulu Dandan style hilt found on rencong in Sumatra. It is fairly rare. I think it may be a good match for your item. The Hulu Dandan was a high prestige hilt and this corresponds well with the triple crowns on your example.

Hulu dandan tend to be on the big side of things (considering rencong hilts)!

The typical hilt for a luju celiko is the hulu paroh blesekan and these are considerably smaller (as are the ceremonial blades). There is not much published evidence and I'd really like to see more examples - hopefully the forumites can contribute a few more!

Russel's example has a somewhat smoother flow of lines while mine shows more clearly different parts of the hilt which seems to relate to the hulu dandan configuration. One could argue that hulu dandan, hulu paroh blesekan, and hulu jongo form a kind of continuum but I believe we should stick to the traditional definitions unless we have really good evidence to the contrary...

Regards,
Kai