Sword "mandau" ·  Indonesia - Borneo, Dayak · ID: 3034251

Description

elaborately carved hilt of bone, partly wrapped with plant fibre and decorated with animal hair, iron blade with brass inlay and skewed endings, a two-parted wooden scabbard decorated with fine incised ornaments, a second scabbard on the back, containing a knife with a long wooden handle, strap for support, min. dam., slight traces of abrasion;
used for head hunting and as a machete in daily life. According to a number of sources the small knife was used, among other things, to remove the soft parts of the enemies cut-off heads. The “mandau” is used by many peoples of Kalimantan and is widely spread.

The object Sword “mandau” with the object ID 3034251 was last part of the auction 72nd tribal art auction at March 9, 2013 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 2 achieved a sales price of EUR 450.

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Comparing literature

van Zonneveld, A.G., Traditional weapons of the Indonesian Archipelago, Leiden 2001, p. 88