Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - A silver pommel with silver inlaid blade Moro Kris

Ian · 9th March 2021, 07:56 AM

Kino and Battara,

I've looked at this one long and hard, and the first question I ask is whether this is Moro in origin?

Starting with the scabbard, it appears that the gangya of this kris/sundang is too big for the sampir of the scabbard, so I'd say it is not a match for this sword. Let's set it aside and just look at the blade and hilt.

The blade is straight and moderately wide with a central fuller. I've not seen a fuller on a well-provenanced archaic Moro kris. Old sundang, yes, but not Moro kris.

At the base of the gangya it does not have the customary "arrowhead" carving seen on archaic kris, but rather a series of incised semicircles filled with silver. We've seen these unusual markings before on sundang, but I've yet to see them authoritatively attributed to Moro swords (as opposed to sundang from elsewhere in the Malay world).

The line separating the two pieces of the gangya (gutlang katik, Tausug) is almost straight with only a minimal angle very close to the long edge of the gangya. Among Moro kris, Cato believes this usually indicates an archaic form (pre-1800), but the rest of this sword does not fit with a typical archaic Moro kris (length of blade, absence of arrowhead, no central "panel" that may be twist core).

The so-called "elephant's trunk" area of the gangya is also unusual for an archaic Moro kris. In another thread, Rick recently referred to a similar structure as looking more like a rooster than an elephant. In that same thread, it was also noted that the style of elephant's trunk seen here is unusual for Moro kris but can be seen (perhaps more commonly) on sundang from other areas of the Malay world, including Brunei, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, and Malaysia.

The general form of the kakatua hilt shown here is seen widely. There are similar examples from the late 19th C up to the present time on Moro kris, particularly those from Mindanao. Similar hilts are seen also on sundang from the other Malay areas noted above (and illustrated in A. van Zonneveld, Traditional Weapons of the Indonesian Archipelago, p. 133).

So, is this sword a Moro kris? My inclination is to say it is not from the Sulu Archipelago or Mindanao, and therefore not Moro in origin. I think it is more likely from Brunei or Malaysia. If it is not Moro, then the use of the gutlang katik for dating is doubtful, and an archaic attribution seems unlikely. My own dating of the sword would be mid-19th C at the earliest, probably later, based mainly on the size (length and width) of the blade and on the form of the hilt (which, of course, may not be original).

It is a very fine sword and clearly well made.

9th March 2021, 07:56 AM	#3
Ian Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Aussie Bush Posts: 4,023	Kino and Battara, I've looked at this one long and hard, and the first question I ask is whether this is Moro in origin? Starting with the scabbard, it appears that the gangya of this kris/sundang is too big for the sampir of the scabbard, so I'd say it is not a match for this sword. Let's set it aside and just look at the blade and hilt. The blade is straight and moderately wide with a central fuller. I've not seen a fuller on a well-provenanced archaic Moro kris. Old sundang, yes, but not Moro kris. At the base of the gangya it does not have the customary "arrowhead" carving seen on archaic kris, but rather a series of incised semicircles filled with silver. We've seen these unusual markings before on sundang, but I've yet to see them authoritatively attributed to Moro swords (as opposed to sundang from elsewhere in the Malay world). The line separating the two pieces of the gangya (gutlang katik, Tausug) is almost straight with only a minimal angle very close to the long edge of the gangya. Among Moro kris, Cato believes this usually indicates an archaic form (pre-1800), but the rest of this sword does not fit with a typical archaic Moro kris (length of blade, absence of arrowhead, no central "panel" that may be twist core). The so-called "elephant's trunk" area of the gangya is also unusual for an archaic Moro kris. In another thread, Rick recently referred to a similar structure as looking more like a rooster than an elephant. In that same thread, it was also noted that the style of elephant's trunk seen here is unusual for Moro kris but can be seen (perhaps more commonly) on sundang from other areas of the Malay world, including Brunei, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, and Malaysia. The general form of the kakatua hilt shown here is seen widely. There are similar examples from the late 19th C up to the present time on Moro kris, particularly those from Mindanao. Similar hilts are seen also on sundang from the other Malay areas noted above (and illustrated in A. van Zonneveld, Traditional Weapons of the Indonesian Archipelago, p. 133). So, is this sword a Moro kris? My inclination is to say it is not from the Sulu Archipelago or Mindanao, and therefore not Moro in origin. I think it is more likely from Brunei or Malaysia. If it is not Moro, then the use of the gutlang katik for dating is doubtful, and an archaic attribution seems unlikely. My own dating of the sword would be mid-19th C at the earliest, probably later, based mainly on the size (length and width) of the blade and on the form of the hilt (which, of course, may not be original). It is a very fine sword and clearly well made. Last edited by Ian; 9th March 2021 at 08:07 AM.