Mouseover Zoom loading...
Lot 687
Long knife "sewar," "piso golok taka"
Estimated Value:
2.000 € - 3.000 €
Result:
incl. Premium and VAT
Description:
North Sumatra, Karo-Batak, early 19th cent.L. 53 cm
Steel, wood, horn, non-ferrous metal. This elegant long prestige knife illustrates the flowing transitions between the forms of blade objects common in the central and northern Sumatran highlands. While the smooth bivalve wooden scabbard with its beautifully composed yellow metal and suasa bands and the “eye” on the widened mouthpiece is typical of Karo work, the blade and honey-colored buffalo horn handle are an elongated version of South and Central Sumatran sewar. The blade, with its integrally forged neck sculpted by precise filing, is made of flawless refined steel and is a testament to the high level of forging technique. The elongated ricasso, which was probably applied later, is typical of Karo blades, while the handle neck with the “crown” is reminiscent of blades from Aceh.
Collected from an old German private collection since the 1950s
The weapon, which has a very high-quality appearance and fits very comfortably in the hand, was acquired in the Padang highlands and can definitely be attributed to the mid-19th century. As the scabbard gives the clearest indication of the last bearer, a Minangkabau blade probably came into the possession of a Karo-Batak. The Karo are the second largest Batak ethnic group. There are six different Batak languages (Angkola, Mandailing, Toba, Pakpak, Simalungun and Karo). All have their own alphabet and their own set of sounds with their own corresponding characters. Each of the six languages has its own script, which is derived from an ancient Indian phonetic script. The social structure is mainly determined by a complicated clan culture. An essential element of this is the marga (clan), whose name is used by most Batak today like a surname. For example, marriages between members of the same marga are strictly forbidden, even if the people concerned are only distantly related. Even married women continue to bear the name of their birth marga with the prefix boru and do not take their husband's surname. Knives of this kind are common and important gifts between the bride's parents at weddings between people of higher social status
