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Sword (Barong)
c. 1800s
- Medium
- Blade: steel; handle: silver with braided wire; pommel: ivory with carabao horn inlay
- Classification
- Arms and Armor
- Dimensions
- Overall: 64.2 cm (25 1/4 in.); Blade: 42 cm (16 9/16 in.)
- Culture
- Philippines
- 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
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. 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 ivory pommel, inlaid with black hardwood, takes the form of a stylized cockatoo (kakatua). This feature, along with the finely worked horn grip, indicates that this was a prestige weapon owned by a member of the warrior nobility.
