Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 12th February 2012, 08:58 PM

Just looking at the blade, I tend to think South Sumatra, but all the other bits and pieces look like a hodge podge.

The hilt has similarities with hilts from West Bali and East Jawa; the selut looks Peninsula or Sumatra and could even be made in a western culture:- is it turned from a solid block, or has it been constructed? The scabbard looks like rural Jawa or perhaps Madura.

There is absolutely no coherence between the separate parts of this keris that would encourage me to give any opinion at all on where it might have been assembled.

This is not to say it is not an authentic keris. Over the years I've seen some pretty peculiar keris that were 100% indigenous items. Mixtures of bits and pieces from everywhere, put together in some village that had no real major cultural influence from anywhere. Indonesia has somewhere between 17,000 and 19,000 islands, not all inhabited, nor habitable; Maritime SE Asia has thousands more. This keris could be from anywhere.

Not all marriages are evidence of dealers doing the match-making.

12th February 2012, 08:58 PM	#9
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,964	Just looking at the blade, I tend to think South Sumatra, but all the other bits and pieces look like a hodge podge. The hilt has similarities with hilts from West Bali and East Jawa; the selut looks Peninsula or Sumatra and could even be made in a western culture:- is it turned from a solid block, or has it been constructed? The scabbard looks like rural Jawa or perhaps Madura. There is absolutely no coherence between the separate parts of this keris that would encourage me to give any opinion at all on where it might have been assembled. This is not to say it is not an authentic keris. Over the years I've seen some pretty peculiar keris that were 100% indigenous items. Mixtures of bits and pieces from everywhere, put together in some village that had no real major cultural influence from anywhere. Indonesia has somewhere between 17,000 and 19,000 islands, not all inhabited, nor habitable; Maritime SE Asia has thousands more. This keris could be from anywhere. Not all marriages are evidence of dealers doing the match-making.