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1929.84.1.1

Sword [.1] with straight single edged blade and wooden hilt, in a silver mounted, open wooden sheath [.2] [SM 19/11/2007]

1929.84.1.1

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Collection type
Object
Description
Sword [.1] with straight single edged blade and wooden hilt, in a silver mounted, open wooden sheath [.2] [SM 19/11/2007]
Long description
Sword [.1] with straight single edged blade and wooden hilt, in a silver mounted, open wooden sheath [.2]. The hilt has a slight wooden guard and a grip that is bound with bands of silver wire. The sheath is made from a single piece of wood. It is slightly flared towards the tip, with two silver bands to hold the sword in place. These bands are decorated with three turquoise beads set into each. The tip is trimmed with a strip of copper alloy and has a panel of decorative scrolled design that resembles ?Cloisonné, but with no traces of enamel. This panel has four turquoise beads and one coral bead set into it. [SM 19/11/2007]
Geographical reference
India
Asia > Southern Asia > India
Sikkim
Cultural groups
Lepcha
Person
Field collector Unknown Collector
PRM source James Thomas Hooper
Date / Period
Date made: Before 05/1929
Date collected
By May 1929
Acquisition information
Purchased: 31/05/1929
Materials and processes
Material Iron Metal, Material Wood Plant, Material Silver Metal, Material Metal Wire, Material Copper Alloy Metal, Material Turquoise Stone, Material Coral, Process Forged (Metal), Process Carved, Process Bound, Process Inlaid, Process Nailed, Process Cloisonné Enamelled
Dimensions
Width: max 53 mm, Width: max 45 mm, Length: max 545 mm, Length: max 500 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1929.84.1.1 Accession number: 1929.84.1.2
Research and responses

The Lepcha (pop.50,000) are the indigenous people of Sikkim, broadly of Tibetan cultural origin. This is manifested in the substantially Tibetan form of this relatively unelaborated sword and scabbard. Warfare was generally uncommon among the Buddhist-Animist Lepcha, and generally practiced with bow and arrow. High quality Lepcha shortswords bear overlain decorative work in silver and brass, as well as cabochons of semi-precious stone – again, substantially Tibetan in form. More modest pieces exhibit simple brass bands holding the blade into the one-sided scabbard. Buddhist symbols can be found on swords from Nepal, Sikkim and West Bengal (Egerton, 1896: 100). Small lotus-flower rivets connote the individual’s potential to realise enlightenment and decrease karma, irrespective of the conditions of their birth – as the lotus produces a flower from waterlogged mud. Research Conducted for DCF Cutting Edge 2006/2007 [AM].

Search terms: Weapon, Sword, Sheath, Knife

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