A LARGE (90 CM) BRONZE SWIVEL CANNON, LANTAKA, INDONESIA, 18TH-19TH CENTURY

A LARGE (90 CM) BRONZE SWIVEL CANNON, LANTAKA, INDONESIA, 18TH-19TH CENTURY

Of characteristic form, with sighted two-stage barrel and a slender tapering chase decorated in low relief with triangular panels of foliage, behind the cylindrical muzzle flaring to a flower-shaped mouth. With a hollow cylindrical cascabel and mounted on a bronze trunnion swivel, the peg-mount inserted into an associated turned wood stand. (2)

Provenance: Belgian trade. According to the previous owner, the present piece comes from an estate in the Brussels area, where it was reputedly kept in the same family for several generations.

Condition: Good condition with expected wear, traces of use, and casting flaws. Few nicks, scratches, and encrustations. The bronze with a naturally grown, dark patina.

Weight: 22.1 kg
Dimensions: Length 90.2 cm

Lantaka is a type of portable bronze cannon or swivel gun, sometimes mounted on merchant vessels and warships in Maritime Southeast Asia travelling the waterways of the Malay Archipelago. Its use was greatest in precolonial Southeast Asia - especially in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. The guns were used to defend against pirates demanding tribute for the local chief, or potentate.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related bronze cannon, lantaka, Malayan, 18th-19th century, 65.4 cm, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 36.25.2121.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Bonhams San Francisco, 1 March 2010, lot 2049
Price: USD 2,745 or approx.

EUR 3,600 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Indonesian bronze swivel cannon (lantaka)
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form.

Note the much smaller size (48.5 cm).

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