Bali Keris Holders
 

Just visual sharing, on Bali keris holders from some museums in Indonesia. The best keris holder I've seen is a kerajaan Gelgel's keris holder at Museum Gajah (second picture below). But private museum D'Topeng in Sanur, Bali, also has a magnificent collection (picture below) of a cute bali keris holder too...

GANJAWULUNG

Bali keris holder at Museum Gajah, Jakarta (the National Museum of Jakarta) is one of the best keris holder I've seen. According to museum sources, this beautiful Anoman motif keris holder came from kerajaan Gelgel, Klungkung era of XV century...

A private museum, "D'Topeng" -- located at 2nd floor of a Balinese restoran near Sanur bypass -- has beautiful collections of traditional masks from all over Indonesian archipelago, and also some kerises, and old keris holders. This is one of their collections....

Located at 2nd floor of a Balinese restoran near Sanur bypass -- the private museum, "D'Topeng" -- has beautiful collections of traditional masks from all over Indonesian archipelago, and also some kerises, and old keris holders. This is one of their collections....

A collection of "D'Topeng" private museum, Sanur Bypass, Bali. An old bali keris holder... And this is an interesting thread on this subject, at our Warung Kopi... http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...i+keris+holder

Thanks for nice pics and subject

...beautiful collection of hundreds of traditional masks of all over Indonesian Archipelago, at the private museum "D'Topeng"...

... collection of "loro blonyo" (a pair of Gedono and Gedini statue) from different places in Indonesia, and also samples of box arts, bed arts.. (collection of D'Topeng Museum)

Jimmi where this museum is in Sanur? It seems to have amazing objects.

D'Topeng Kingdom Museum
 

A new private museum, Marco. It is located on the 2nd floor of "D'Topeng Restaurant", Jalan Setiabudi No 10, Simpang Siur, Badung, Bali (you may ask the taxi driver, "D'Topeng Restaurant, Sanur" at Jalan Setiabudi). The formal name is "D'Topeng Kingdom Museum"....

If you don't mind, Mr Moderator -- Rick and David -- I would like to to share the link to the museum's site. http://www.dtopengkingdommuseum.com/v2/

On the contrary Jimmy, i don't mind at all. Great images, thanks! :)

If I didn't know better I would guess that you're a Travel Agent, Jimmy. ;) :D

@Rick, yes, ha, ha, ha.... Keris travel agent.

Yes, a magical mystery tour ............

Another mystery tour, this time to Amsterdam. An old and beautiful -- if not the most -- keris holder from the collection of Tropen Museum, Amsterdam. Depicted who?

Re the keris holder in post #2... Believe it or not but I saw it in real life here in Finland in 1996 when it toured the world accompanied by circa 250 other items - many of them kerises, tombaks and other regalia - on an Indonesian government sponsored exhibition tournee. To say it was astonishing is yet a lame way of describing it. The kerises that accompanied it... No words :shrug:

I am thinking that this is Hanuman the monkey general friend of Rama.

IT is a nice piece - thank you for posting.

Great sculpture indeed ! I too think it depicts Hanuman, but am asking myself: where the keris has to be inserted ?

Here is one of my keris holders: Hanuman again !
I think it is a rather recent manufacture, now it has a big crack in the base.
Forget the keris. It has nothing to do with Bali. :o

Nice one, but is this Hanuman ? does he have a tail for starters ?

Best regards,
Willem

Hanuman, or Anoman, always has white fur, Another human-ape of Ramayana epic, is Anila with violet fur, and Anggada with red fur. In Ramayana, Anoman is the son of Dewi Anjani (name of a goddess), and Batara Guru (the highest god in wayang world). Anila is the son of Batara Narada (another god in wayang), and Anggada is the son of Sugriwa (king of Apes in Gua Kiskenda) with Dewi Tara (a goddess)...

There is a sort of tail, but similar to a piece of cloth. There is also a keris inserted in the belt.

Twalen
 

I think Gio's kerisholder might be Twalen, the Balinese version of Semar.
I know he is mentioned in a book on Semar by Ruud Greve, can't find it right know unfortunately.

I think this is a likely attribution. He does seem to have the appropriate widely spaced 2 teeth and general head shape.

Yes, agree most probable Twalen! Here pictures from my old Twalen figure - no keris holder but a nice old carving.

Regards,

Detlef

Nice one Detlef. :)

His hands look shaped like they did hold something in the past ?

Thank you Willem,

yes, I like it as well, good old Bali carving. You are correct by your assumption but I really don't know what. Maybe tombaks? :confused:

Regards,

Detlef

Think its Petruk, not Twalen, but i can be wrong.

Hello Ivoke,

why you think like this? Can you explain? Thank you in advance,

Detlef

Well, from what i know,

basicly:

Twalen is black,
his sarong is black and white,
Petruk has green in his colorscheme and facial hair.
but he normally also has a bigger nose,so it could also be Delem,
my opinion its not Twalen or Merdah.

Gio's Hanuman has more features that could make it Twalen.

but this is my personal opinion, i could be wrong.
And i base myself on the Bali-Singaraja versions.

Nice thread. :)
Interesting info about the panakawan brothers.
This one is green, but no facial hair. :shrug: :confused:

i had my son ask I Agung Pandi (the local dalang) about the differences and this was his view:

* tualen = black, body fat, bald head, sarong black or white. a little nose, big mouth, good heart, fierce look, magic.

* merdah = black, body fat, bald head, sarong black or white. a big nose, big mouth, good heart, no fierce look, magic.


* delem = red skin color, upright hair (bun), sarong black and white , body fat, big nose, big mouth

* Petruk / sangut = green skin, lean body, sharp nose,sharp facial features, big mouth.


(singaraja region)

This post is not intended to contradict ivoke, it is intended to offer an alternate point of view by somebody who is perhaps as qualified to hold a legitimate opinion as ivoke's informant.

My informant is not a dalang, but an artist, and a senior member of a banjar in the Ubud area.


Twalen is usually coloured black, his expression can change according to the situation, it is not necessarily fierce, but can be so.

Mwerdah is young, and is usually coloured red --- black is not fitting for a young character who is often unsure of himself --- the expression is most usually one of enquiry.


Here are some images of Twalen and Mwerdah keris holders that I have, they are old ones.

There are also some images of blawongs with wayang characters shown.

I seem to recall that Twalen is the Balinese equivalent of Semar, I don't know who Mwerdah is in Javanese wayang. Does anybody know for sure the Javanese equivalents of these characters?

In Javanese wayang, the punakawan characters consist of Semar, Gareng, Bagong, and Petruk. In Balinese wayang in the other hand, the character consist of Twalen and Merdah (the maids of Pandawa) and Delem and Sangut (the maids of Kurawa).

-Semar is the care-giver of Pandawa. His name is also Hyang Ismaya. Even though his appearance is so ugly, he has a supernatural ability that is greater than the gods'.

-Gareng is one of Semar's sons which means he is revered. Nalagareng cannot speak well; furthermore, whatever he says can be totally wrong. However, he is a very funny and hilarious man. He has been a king of Paranggumiwang and has a name Pandubergola. He was elected to be a king in the name of Dewi Sumbadra. He is so powerful and can only be defeated by Petruk.

-Bagong means shadow of Semar. When Semar was sent to the earth, the gods stated that his shadow became his friend. Suddenly, his shadow was transformed to be Bagong. Bagong has unique personality: he is assertive and like to pretend to be stupid. He is also so funny.

-Petruk is Semar's son with the sweet face and smile. He is a smart speaker and a funny man. He likes to ridicule atrocity with his comedy. Petruk has been a king at the state of Ngrancang Kencana and is named Helgeduelbek. In one story, he took the Kalimasada amulet. Nobody can defeat him except Gareng.


About the "fierce" look of twalen, in the region of the old capital -Singaraja- Twalen is also used by ceremonies like filing of the teeth, to transfer the offerings to the gods. In Jawa and the ubud-denpasar region this function of messenger between the worlds is maybe less present. Twalen in singaraja is not considered a clown. Delem is red in our neck of the sawa's, since he's Twalens "evil" twin. Merdah is Black/brownish.

About the different styles, Balinese people are considered creative....to use an understatement...rules are there to be bent.
There are regional differences, and commercial differences.
My wife is still amazed they sell all that "old stuff" here.....in Tukad Mungga we just trow it away when its old or broken.

Sorry for my english.

to show the differences between Semar and twalen (hence Jawa and Bali wayang gulit)

Semar

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/attach...id=77577&stc=1

Twalen....note the movable jaw, this means he can speak for himself.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/attach...id=77578&stc=1

Thanks for that Ivoke.

I'm not strong on Javanese wayang, and I know even less about Balinese wayang.

I don't think that Twalen is considered to be a clown anywhere.

Your remarks on "old stuff" are absolutely spot on. The Balinese attitude is a matter of anthropological record. The Javanese attitude is similar in final result, but is generated by different factors.

This attitude towards material goods which are no longer new, bright, and serve the purpose of enhancement is a great boon for the bulk of collectors of all ethnographica ---including keris --- who live in the western world.

I've noticed a similar attitude towards old Levis and designer jeans:- you can buy a pair of new, straight from the factory, Levis for $XX, but when those Levis move uptown into Le Trendi Boutique, and acquire some artfully placed "distressing" --- read "holes" --- they become infinitely more valuable.

When a worn out entong moves from a Central Javanese rubbish dump to a Paddington gallery, it goes from being rubbish to becoming an important cultural artifact of outstanding significance.

Personally, I cannot understand this mindset, but then I acknowledge that I am often the odd man out.

However, at least in Jawa, it seems that the dealers have at last woken up to the preferences of collectors, and have adjusted the prices of items with some age to them to reflect the collector's idea of value, rather than the local idea of value.

As they say:- beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Here are a couple of blawongs with wayang characters. This type of wall board goes back at least to Majapahit times. At that time they were called "stambha", and mention of them can be found in the Nagara-Kertagama. The word "stambha" is related to the word "stambhana" which in Old Javanese had the sense of a magic defence against disaster.

As the North Coast culture developed, these boards became very popular around Cirebon, and along the north coast.

Pigeaud is of the opinion that in Majapahit it was unlikely that they were used as places to hang a keris, simply because keris during Majapahit were not particularly prevalent, however, they were certainly used for this purpose as the North Coast culture blossomed.