Tunggalametung, when I write things such as I have just written, I almost never present a personal opinion. I most usually present in a very abbreviated form information that I have gleaned from a number of sources. Often, I have no personal opinion on these things, simply because I have insufficient knowledge to be able to form a valid and supportable opinion.Where I do give an opinion I will normally identify it as an opinion and try to give sufficient evidence to support that opinion.
Now, in respect of my opinion of the subject depicted in the handle under discussion.
What I can see is a handle that falls within a category of North Coast Jawa, or perhaps Madura, handles that carries distillation of form into floral and foliate substitutions.
It is probable that this handle was intended to represent some being, however, did the carver know what being it was supposed to represent, or was he following an earlier pattern and adding his own embellishments?
Can we date this handle with reasonable certainty?
Having dated it, can we say that the carver was working from an earlier handle of similar pattern?
Or can we assume that he was working from an earlier handle with a less abstracted form?
Or can we accept that he created this handle form anew from an idea that he himself originated?
Or did he follow the instructions of a client?
I could probably go on creating questions that I for one am unable to answer, but I think that perhaps even these few questions might demonstrate the rather futile task we set ourselves when we attempt to interpret things that we have little hope of understanding.
I have a collection of a very large number of keris handles. I do not know exactly how many I have, but I do know that I have well over 100 handles made of ivory. When these handles are sorted into groups bearing similar characteristics, it is possible to identify recurring themes, and observe variations. Moving from end to end of the range in variation can produce figures at either end of the range that bear little resemblance to each other.
I have spent considerable time with present day carvers, and have watched the way in which they work, and asked why they included certain features in their carvings at certain points. Sometimes the answer will be that it was done because the material demanded it.
Yes, this is a reasonably well carved handle, but I regret that my level of psychic ability is insufficient for me attempt a guess at what the carver may have been intending to represent, or indeed, if he even had an understanding of what it was that he was carving.
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