AND A MORO JUNGLE KNIFE (PANABAS), ALL 19TH CENTURY

the first with single-edged blade fullered along the back on each side, white-metal mounted gilt with pommel-cap embossed, pierced and chased with foliage, and waisted fluted grip bound with twisted white-metal wire, in its wood-lined white-metal scabbard embossed and chased along the outside with foliage inhabited by a pair of fish and Buddhist symbols, and engraved along the back with scrolling foliage, all against a finely punched ground, and retaining an old tassel; the second with tapering single-edged blade of finely watered wootz steel, and steel hilt with rounded grips (old surface rust overall), in its velvet-covered wooden scabbard with lightly pierced silvered locket and chape; the third comprising a knife with white-metal mounted bone grip-scales (chipped), and bone chopstick (incomplete, the other missing), in green-stained bone scabbard (chipped) with iron mounts with brass-inlaid scrollwork, suspension mounts, and suspension ring; the last comprising a broadsword seized in its two-piece wooden scabbard with rattan bindings, the grip bound with woven rattan, and the jungle knife with slightly hooked single-edged blade, the iron-mounted wooden grip covered in cord bindings, the first: 22.0 cm blade (5)

Provenance

From the collection of the late Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf (1909-1995), ethnologist and professor of Anthropology at SOAS