Bling your eyes out!
 

Some of the flashiest pieces from the just-concluded Lomba Estetika Keris di Jogya Gallery. :)

Part II

Part III

Nice bling-bling.
Was it an auction or exhibition?

Michael

It's a keris aesthetics competition. :)

WOW! :) Thank you for sharing.

Beautiful - now I'm blind... :eek:

Very fine work but not my cup of tea, will look nice after 100 or 200 years.... Do you know where these pieces were made? :)
Regards

Very nicely crafted modern work, but all that gold and ruby is a bit too ostentatious in places for my taste. Love the ivory though i do have certain questions about the sources for new ivory.
What is the purpose of the chain that is attached to the pendokok in the last example. I have never seen that before and wonder if there are any old, tradition examples of this.

Dude that camera did good man! Y'all have no idea how bad the lighting was in that gallery...

...It was a cool show though. Understandably Yogya heavy given that the show was organised by a local collectors group. There was a seller's mart on one level and an exhibition hall above. Show was much better overall than the Jakarta show last year - a lot more old pieces and some really nice things for sale. Super tempting but issues surrounding bringing pieces back in luggage and the high prices restrained one...just barely :o

Looking forward to seeing more of those pics Kai Wee. Seeing them up close with the incredible light sensitivity of your cam makes it like I'm seeing them for the first time!

This chain is typical for the old Gowa-Makassar state krisses. The kris of August the Strong in Dresden (Krisdisk chapter 8, Fig 119) has it, the similar one in van Zonneveld's book has lost its chain, yet the rings for it are still attached to the selut.

The ivory parts were carved in Bali. Not sure where the gold fittings were made in, but apparently, 3 different types of craftsmen were involved. One for repousse, one for the wire-works, one to set the stones.

The chain on the pendoko - the only example I saw in a book was for a Goa state keris.

Ok, more kerises with varying compositions of new work. :)

New 2

New 3

New 4

New 5

Great stuff! I love gold and ivory with good blades. Go ahead and bling my brains out! :D

I'm in Solo right now, and I'm a bit snarly that I missed this pameran. I've been tied up with family commitments and just couldn't make it.

In discussion with a very, very senior member of the keris community who did manage to get there, there was only one keris that he would have liked to own.

Lots of bling, but we all have different standards and desires. My friend identified only a single piece as top of his wants list, and it apparently had very little bling at all, it was just very good quality, old, and close to perfect --- a wee bit pricey too.

Excellent pics Kai Wee, thanks. Ganjawulung told me that he missed you by one day.. he had to rushed back to Jakarta then traveled to Singapore. Met him yesterday in Sg. ;)

@Shahrial - yes, I heard from Teguh that Jimmy was in Yogya on Friday. I met up with Pak Beny though. :)

@Alan - G'day! Yes, a lot of bling, though there were some nice old pieces. I think more than the Keris for the World (or at least I perceived there were proportionately more old pieces). I liked a plain old Cirebon keris with a nice Rajamala hilt.

Here's a not so blingy piece, with a very unusual pamor.

This keris had a wrongko with unusual chatoyancy and pelet patterns.

Check out this kapit panjang!

Another keris with unusual pelet patterns.

The last pics (to day pics) IMO are AMAZING Keris, hilt and sarong :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :)

Post #13, is a new hybrid known as 'jangker'.. a combination of kujang and keris. It's kind of pretty.. In post #1, the first 3 pics, no. 290.. this piece had graced the cover of Pusaka Keris magazine and also featured in it.. :D

amazing craftmanship for these blades... blow my mind

Rats!!!!!! I'm taking a semester at UGM in Yogya and have been a long time follower of this forum. Can't believe I missed this!!!!!!

Yes, Shahrial, I missed Kai Wee and Dave Henkel by one day in Yogya. I had to rush back to Jakarta then traveled to Singapore for one more busy week there... The gold fittings of these Samin Collections were made in Jakarta by different carvers. One of them is a young and talented Sumatran (Minang) carver...

The Palembang hulu keris, and also the hulu of keris panjang was carved by the talented Minang carver. He is an alround one, that able to carve the gold work, wooden work and ivory work...