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Sword (Barong)
before 1916
- Medium
- Blade: metal; handle: metal with silver foil and repoussé work; pommel: ivory and carabao horn
- Classification
- Arms and Armor
- Dimensions
- Overall: 65.5 cm (25 13/16 in.); Blade: 42.2 cm (16 5/8 in.)
- Culture
- Philippines, Mindanao, Sulu Archipelago
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Oceania
- Credit line
- Gift of J. H. Wade
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
This sword has a broad, leaf-shaped blade characteristic of the Sulu Archipelago. Its profile suggests it was used for powerful cut-and-slash fighting. The hilt terminates in an exceptionally long ivory cockatoo (kakatua) pommel, carved with delicate okir scrollwork. This was an object of authority, status, and ceremonial presence within Tausug culture, probably owned by a member of the datu ruling class.
