- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Sword with elaborately decorated blade and hilt. The hilt also has a dyed hair decoration.
- Long description
- Sword with elaborately decorated blade and hilt. The hilt also has a dyed hair decoration. The blade has incised scrolling decoration and inlaid copper alloy circles on one surface. The other surface has a smaller section of incised scrolling decoration. The spine edge has scrolling perforated decoration. The hilt is made from deer antler and has a projection on one side. It is elaborately carved and has black and red animal hair decoration. The join between the hilt and the blade has a black resinous substance around it.
- Geographical reference
- Cultural groups
- Kayan
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1927
- Date collected
- By 1927
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1927
- Materials and processes
- Material Iron Metal, Material Deer Antler Animal, Material Animal Hair, Material Copper Alloy Metal, Material Pigment, Material Resin Plant, Process Forged (Metal), Process Carved, Process Incised, Process Inlaid, Process Perforated, Process Dyed
- Dimensions
- Length: max 688 mm excluding hair decoration, Width: max 64 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1927.54.1
- 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].
1927.54.1
Sword with elaborately decorated blade and hilt. The hilt also has a dyed hair decoration.
1927.54.1
Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
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