Vietnamese ceremonial Guom

With the colonizing by the French in 1802, the European influence on Vietnamese weapons began. The typical D-shaped guards and lion head pommels were slowly introduced during the beginning of the 19th century ending up in a mixture of French influence, but with eastetic pleasing Asian features such as silver and mother of pearl inlays and the use of precious sorts of wood.

Most of these sabres were used by high ranked palace guards and other dignitaries during traditional Mandarin inspired traditions. High rank officers carried special parade sabers finely decorated with mother of pearl or silver and copper inlays with silver fittings. The hilts were often made of ivory, molar tooth, horn or brass and pommels of silver or silvered bronze.
The blades were purely made for ceremony, sometimes even made of brass, occasionally we encounter real functional saber blades with floral engravings and sometimes even with French imported blades.

The hilt:
made of silver and provided with a molar tooth handle. The pommel is decorated with a silver lion mask to which the guard was attached. The guard itself is D-shaped and entirely made of silver and decorated with double longevity symbols.

The blade:
Functional blades are scarce on Vietnamese ceremonial swords. An interesting feature is that the blade has a fuller on both sides of the blade, but also on the spine. The blade shows influences of European saber blades and is slightly curved and decorated with engraved floral motifs. The forte of the blade is covered with a brass ferrule, which we call ‘tunkou’.

The scabbard:
Containing of two wooden slabs, held together with precious silver repoussé fittings depicting foliage and crawling dragons.