L'épée inscrite de Boston (K. 1048, 1040-41 de notre ère)

Gerdi Gerschheimer (1) , Brice Vincent (2)

1 Mondes Iranien et Indien - UMR 7528
2 EFEO - École française d'Extrême-Orient

A gilded bronze sword, kept in the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston (Massachusetts) since the beginning of the 1970s, bears a short inscription of two lines in Old Khmer. A new reading of the inscription allows one to correct previous publications. A wrong reading, among other factors, has led to date the sword 862 saka/ 940 AD (under Jayavarman IV), and thus to provide "hard evidence for [the] use [of mercury-gilding for Khmer artifacts] during the tenth century". In fact, the inscription clearly bears the date 962 saka/1040-41 AD (under Suryavarman I).

Domaines: Histoire

Gerdi Gerschheimer, Brice Vincent. L'épée inscrite de Boston (K. 1048, 1040-41 de notre ère). Arts Asiatiques, 2010, 65 (1), pp.109 - 120. ⟨10.3406/arasi.2010.1708⟩. ⟨halshs-02477464⟩