Man with a dha ?

[Ian]

I've refrained from responding to this thread for some time because I really have nothing definite to say. The dress of the warrior looks Burmese but the dha does not, at least not a typical Burmese sword that we associate with the 19th C.

The long curved handle suggests a Thai darb of roughly the 19th C. (Rattanakosin period), but Cambodian is also a possibility although it does not strike me as particularly Cambodian either given the apparent overall curvature of hilt and blade.

Perhaps there has been a certain amount of artistic license in depicting the man and his sword, or perhaps it was not painted from life but from a picture of the man and a sword inserted that happened to be around. Not the first time that occurred.

Enigmatic little portrait.

Ian.