Description:

Dagger "sewar"
Indonesia, Sumatra South, Lampung, 19th century
L. 30 cm
Steel, wood, ivory. A very beautiful, excellently preserved sewar. This example with its elephant ivory handle and the mouthpiece made of selected tayuman wood (Cassia laevigata) as well as the tapped ivory foot of the scabbard is typically Sumatran. The scabbard body is made of Macassar ebony. The workmanship is excellent. The piece, whose blade is made of very finely refined, high quality steel with a fine "hardness line", is particularly interesting in that the condition is completely "new". This gives an impression of the sharpness and "bite" of these slender blades, which were worn by both women and men. This example clearly shows how the cangge (mouthpiece) developed as a vegetable form. The comparison with Batak blade objects and knives from Java, Sumba and Sumbawa as well as Sulawesi shows that a more "powerful" motif was originally placed here (makkara head, dragon head), which, as a primal aquatic creature, is often also associated with sexual associations (vagina; often stylised as a flower).
From an old German private collection, assembled since the 1950s - The EU sales licence for this lot is available - This lot cannot be exported out of the European Union

The sewar (siwai) is widespread throughout the Sumatran-Malay coastal region and among the Minangkabau, as well as in the Bandjar district area (Südborneo) and on the Malay peninsula. The rounded shape of the sheath mouth piece, which our specimen shows, as well as the rather delicate handles, tend to be attributed to the southeast of Sumatra, i.e. the provinces of Jambi and Sumatera Selatan as well as Lampung, but since a considerable maritime mobility is required, it is not possible to identify this species;t is characteristic of the Muslim-Malay trading colonies of Sumatra and Südborneo, a clear assignment would be a very risky endeavour. In the Minangkabau region and the northern provinces of Sumatra, the cangge is rather caste-like in appearance, which may go hand in hand with the Muslim demand for abstraction, as this element used to be a mythical creature head or had sexual connotations. On Sumatran sewar it is usually formed as a vegetal element. Sewar are one of the most common knife forms in Indonesia and Malaysia. They probably originate from Südindian (Sinhalese) knife forms. In the Malay region, slimmer, more elegant forms have developed over the centuries, the roots of which can still be recognised in the backward protruding handle end and the thickened blade neck, among other things. It can be assumed that this type of knife dates back to the first millennium, when Südindian culture was very prevalent on Java and Sumatra. The sickle knife korambi, which is closely related to the sewar, is already mentioned in a text from the 11th century

Dolchmesser "sewar"
Indonesien, Sumatra Süd-, Lampung, 19. Jh.
L. 30 cm
Stahl, Holz, Elfenbein. Ein sehr schöner, hervorragend erhaltener sewar. Dieses Beispiel mit seinem Elefanten-Elfenbeingriff und dem aus ausgesuchten tayuman-Holz (Cassia laevigata) gefertigten Mundstück sowie dem eingezapften Elfenbein-Fuß der Scheide ist typisch sumatranisch. Der Scheidenkörper ist aus Makassar-Ebenholz. Die Verarbeitung ist exzellent. Das Stück, dessen Klinge aus sehr fein raffiniertem, hochwertigem Stahl mit einer feinen „Härtelinie“ besteht, ist insofern besonders interessant, als der Zustand völlig „neu“ ist. So gewinnt man einen Eindruck von der Schärfe und „Bissigkeit“ dieser schlanken Klingen, die ebenso von Frauen wie von Männern getragen wurden. An diesem Beispiel erkennt man sehr deutlich, wie sich das cangge (Mundstück) als vegetabile Form ausbildet. Der Vergleich mit Batak-Klingenobjekten und Messern aus Java, Sumba und Sumbawa sowie Sulawesi zeigt, dass hier ursprünglich ein „kraftvolleres“ Motiv platziert war (makkara-Haupt, Drachenhaupt), das als aquatisches Urwesen oft auch darstellerisch mit geschlechtlichen Assoziationen (Vagina; oft zur Blüte stilisier

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Export to countries outside the EU are subject to the restrictions of the UNESCO convention from 1970 and the European Agreement for the Protection of Cultural Heritage from 1993. Moreover, the cites regulations are applicable. Objects with materials such as ivory or tortoise shell require a permission for export into countries outside the EU contract area due to cites regulations. We point out that such a permission is usually not given. For exports within the EU the Act to Protect German Cultural Property against Removal (Kulturgutschutzgesetz) has been in force since 6th August 2016.


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900 € 999 € 100 €
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