Tibetan Sword

[Philip]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

This Tibetan sword is amazing, and does remind me of a Chinese sword with that round guard in unusual position, rather like the chakram style discs on some North Indian swords. The Chinese sword was featured in a Royal Armouries yearbook, but cannot recall which off hand (Philip....help).

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The sword you have in mind was published in the Royal Armouries' Yearbook Vol. 1 (1996) in an article by Thom Richardson, Keeper of Armour. As a bit of background, it was originally acquired from a private collection by a New York dealer, and it was eventually acquired by the RAM, much to their credit.

The sword is Chinese only in its origin, stylistically it is mostly Tibetan, especially in relation to its essential form. (the blade has, at some later time, been replaced with a rather inferior Tibetan one that doesn't even fit the handle properly). Details of its decoration and workmanship are believed to be analogous to a small group of objects, including a ceremonial ax, traced to the imperial workshops in Peking, probably during the reign of the Yongle (Yung-lo) Emperor, beginning 15th cent.

The vertical orientation of the guard on the sword in this thread is indeed reminiscent of the vertical position of the zoomorphic face on the RAM's sword. It is not a strictly Chinese feature, it is seen on the RAM sword because, like the objects mentioned previously, it was obviously made for the Tibetan market. Perhaps as a diplomatic gift?

Many Chinese guards (on swords as well as sabers) are indeed flat and discoid (although the profile is not strictly circular in the majority of cases), but they are mounted "horizontally" i.e. in a perpendicular position to the blade. Think of it as "tsuba-ish". See the pic below which shows an ovoid shape more frequent in the genre.

Perfectly circular contours are more common on Japanese tsubas, and on the guards of many Vietnamese sabers, or on those Thai daabs which hilted locally à la japonnaise.