- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Sword with curved blade and bone handle decorated with hair tassels and bound with silver wire. See also sheath [1943.6.111 .2], belt [1943.6.111 .3] and knife [1943.6.111 .4]. [El.B 16/11/2007]
- Long description
- Sword with slightly curved, single-edged blade, with bone handle elaborately carved and decorated with hair tassels, also bound with plaited silver wire and a silver ring. For sheath see [1943.6.111 .2], for plaited rattan belt see [1943.6.111 .3] and for knife, not yet found, see [1943.6.111 .4]. [El.B 16/11/2007]
- Cultural groups
- Kenyah
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1943
- Date collected
- By 1943
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1943
- Materials and processes
- Material Hair, Material Bone, Material Metal Wire, Material Silver Metal, Material Bark Wood Plant, Material Wood Plant, Material Rattan Fibre Plant, Process Carved, Process Incised, Process Beadwork, Process Plaited, Process Repoussé, Process Beaten
- Dimensions
- Length: max 860 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1943.6.111.1
- Research and responses
Parang is a term used among the Malay and Iban to indicate any sword, although these weapons were used (like the kukri and Naga dao) for agricultural and arboricultural purposes as well. Parang ilang is an Iban term for these swords, which have other names among other peoples. The parang is worn blade-upwards on the left hip, in the Japanese fashion, and offers considerable artistic interest. In use, the distinctive blade is quite unique. It has a curvature across the width of the blade, as well as the length, which is found by the Borneans to permit a deeper cut. These swords are the counterpart to the beautiful Kayan and Kenyah shields, and the baju empurau war-jackets. One begins to get a true sense of the rich self-presentation of the Kayan and Kenyah warrior when one puts these items together into the appropriate complex of objects. The back of the blade is often fretted and hooked, or decorated with incised motifs, somewhat after the fashion of the keris. These designs allude to various serpent or dragon forms, again, much like the keris. Research Conducted for DCF Cutting Edge 2006/2007 [AM].
Baieng is the Kenyah name for the parang ilang. [El.B 16/11/2007]
1943.6.111.1
Sword with curved blade and bone handle decorated with hair tassels and bound with silver wire. See also sheath [1943.6.111 .2], belt [1943.6.111 .3] and knife [1943.6.111 .4]. [El.B 16/11/2007]
1943.6.111.1
Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
If you wish to order a high-resolution image and/or licence its use for print or web publication, exhibition, film, promotional product or any other use, whether in the academic or commercial sector of any print run, then please visit photographic services.