EARLY 19th CENTURY INDONESIAN SUMATRAN PANJANG EXECUTION KRIS,KERIS. #9255

Description

An exceptional dated early 19th century Indonesian Sumatran Panjang execution kris, earlier straight 21 inch faceted shaped blade, engraved silver cup at the base of the pierced floral black buffalo horn hilt, the straight wooden 22 inch scabbard with 5 decorated silver bands and a large embossed silver floral decorated mount top and bottom, the top mount is signed either side and dated 1800, Overall 27 inches. Slight stress fracture to the top of the scabbard but not broken off, see close-up photo.
9255mfo
Long kris such as these are commonly referred to as 'executioner's' kris.  They functioned as status symbols and as a form of regalia for local
rulers and sultans. According to Gardner (2009r, p. 27), the usual Malay way of execution was to make the victim squat and the executioner then drove a
blade such as the example here down through the upper shoulder near the collar bone, towards the heart. The driving in of the blade would occur either
quickly or slowly according to the sentence. The kris was driven through cotton wool or similar so that the blood would be soaked up because only the ruler
was allowed to be the cause of blood being physically shed and spilled.