Neka Art Museum, Ubud, Bali
 

We have previously had mention of the Neka Museum in Ubud.

I was there earlier this year and I took a lot of photos. The place is intended for a viewing experience, not a photographic experience, so it was more than a little bit difficult to get any photos that were worthy of publication, however, I did manage to get a few that I have been able to work into something resembling almost OK. Not wonderful pics, but they will make your mouth water when you imagine how good the items on display are.

Here's the link:-

http://kerisattosanaji.com/NEKAMUSEUMPAGE1.html

Thank you Alan for sharing, my mouth is full with water! :D ;)

Alan,

Wow...

The pictures are not bad at all considering you took them in the museum.

Impressive pieces.
All contemporary like made during the last decade ?

Best regards,
Willem

Yes, everything is contemporary work.

There are a very few old keris there, but nothing outstanding and I don't think any of the pics I took were photos of the old pieces, but when I look at a couple of the images I've published, they might have been.

The dress is not marked as "new", or "recent", and as far as I recall no attribution to craftsmen involved in making the dress is provided, however, it is all in my judgement current era work.

Alan,
Thank you very much for sharing these very nice pictures with us (I missed the museum during my last visit to Ubud). Now regarding the displayed pieces, I deeply appreciate the fantastic craftsmanship but frankly I find most of them too bling-bling for my taste!
Jean

Thanks Alan, i think you did a fine job under the circumstances, especially with the hilts. Ubud is on my first stop list when i finally make my why to Bali, especially since i recently met Mario Blanco who operates the Blanco Museum there and he has invited me to come. Now all i need is the cash to travel. ;) :)

Hello Jean,

but what you call "bling-bling" it's typical Bali work. I love this fine ivory carvings. But ok, it's a thing of personal taste.

sajen

Ahhh, I want one of the kerises. Any one would do!!!! :)

Well, let's just say that it is typical for the higher end court pieces. But then, if we look at the court keris from any area we are bound to find pieces with far more "bling-bling" than the keris owned by commoners. Of course, the Balinese do see to have a way with opulence. ;) :)

Wonderful stuff Alan .

Thanks !

Thanks for the compliments.

In fact, the work with Photoshop took a lot of time; I've been playing with these photos for more than 6 months, a little bit at a time. The originals were virtually unviewable in most cases. Next time I go I will have a different camera with me, and an understanding of the problems, so hopefully I might get more and better images.

Jean, if I put on my Aussie hat, I cannot but agree that high end Balinese keris, and in fact virtually all high end keris, no matter from where, are more than a bit too blingy.

However, the cultures from which the keris comes are not Aussie, and the value systems within these cultures use vastly different standards to the ones that apply in Sydney and Melbourne. In the case of Bali, we find that the simple weapon class keris used in the past by peasant farmers, and now worn as dress items by ordinary people, are quite austere, but as we move up the social and wealth register we find that those who have the means and position to express exhuberance most definitely do so. A few years ago I handled a keris that a middle class businessman had prepared for his wedding. The blade was an old, fairly ordinary thing, nothing to make me remember it, but the wrongko was completely covered in finely worked 22 carat gold and studded with real diamonds, sapphires and emeralds, and the hilt was en suite with the wrongko. In the world of bling this was the blingiest thing I've ever seen.The wedding was long past, and I could have owned that keris for something like $200,000.

In my experience Balinese people and Javanese people are much given to personal display. Sometimes that display is not particularly obvious, but where it is not obvious, it is usually calculated to make an impression. Our niece married into one of the wealthiest families in Indonesia. They staged a couple of wedding receptions, and we attended the one in Sydney. The groom's parents used understatement to display their wealth:- the father was dressed in a dusty off the rack, badly fitting suit and wore a black plastic watch; the mother wore a very simple outfit that she had had made in Paris, she only wore one piece of jewellery:- a heavy gold chain supporting a single diamond as big as a pigeon's egg.

We may not like to display our wealth or position, but generally speaking, Balinese and Javanese people do, and they use bling to do it.

Thank you very much for sharing Alan!
I absolutely love the first Keris, as well as ivory (bone?) hilts and the carved ivory Atasan :-)

Understatement I can understand, but a bad-fitting suit on the son's wedding day ... why???

You have a PM Kai Wee.

That keris bethok....
 

I especially like that. Plain, but beautifully made.

LOL. I live in Bali so I can tell you that everything here is 'bling bling'. Try Balinese cuisine. It's a lot more 'bling bling' compared to other Indonesian foods ... and so are Balinese music, wedding dress, rituals, and many other things ... I actually pick up the taste after a while ;)

Yes, Balinese taste does tend towards the exuberant.