Review 'The Javanese Kris'

[Albert]

Dr. I. Groneman's The Javanese Kris reviewed by Albert G. van Zonneveld.

288 pp.; 300 colour and b/w illustrations, 15 b/w field photographs. Cloth in dust jacket. Leiden: C. Zwartenkot Art Books & KITLV Press, 2009. Price: 75,00 euro.

The Javanese Kris is the first complete English translation of Der Kris der Javaner. Isaäc Groneman published this penetrating study in the authoritative periodical Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie between 1910 and 1913.

The English translations of his articles titled 'Pure nickel as pamor' and 'The Njirami, or the annual Purification of Hereditary Weapons and other Pusakas in Central Java' have been added to The Javanese Kris.

In his pioneering research Groneman painstakingly, step for step, describes how the blacksmith (empu) Karja di Krama forged five krisses with the archetype pamor patterns: wos wutah, blaraq ngirid, sekar pala, sekar ngadeg and sekar temu. He also reports at great length on the blacksmith?s workshop, on the tools applied when producing krisses and on forging experiments whereby, for instance, bicycle metal that contains nickel replaces the traditional iron extracted from a meteoric that fell to earth near candi Prambanan at the end of the eighteenth century.

Moreover, Groneman pays extensive attention to the many shapes (dapur) of the straight and waved kris blades, shapes of kris hilts, kris sheaths etc. He furthermore provides us with a theoretical account dealing with the kris as a historical and cultural phenomenon including the categories of kris types introduced in N. L. Winter's publication written in Javanese (1871) and a list of 118 types of shapes presented in a manuscript kept at the kraton of Yogyakarta.

Isaäc Groneman delivered a leading study on the Javanese kris. Anno 2009, a hundred years later, the significance of his work remains unchallenged.

In The Javanese Kris an abundance of information and illustrations have been added to the original text.
Firstly, a preface and an extensive introduction by David van Duuren. In it he discusses Isaäc Groneman's tireless efforts aimed at preserving the art of pamor forging that was slowly but surely disappearing at the start of the twentieth century.
Secondly, as many as 140 excellent photographs show krisses, kris hilts and kris boards originating from the collections of the three largest ethnographic museums and from private collectors in The Netherlands.

The Javanese Kris counts 50 watercolours presenting more than 100 types of kris shapes and b/w line drawings depicting more than 80 types of kris shapes. These illustrations date from 1840, 1850, 1858 and 1920 are published for the first time.

To summarize, The Javanese Kris is an excellent publication, very detailed and extremely exploratory. Its contents includes state-of-the-art photographs and comes with an appropriate lay out. A kris collector cannot do without this reference work which also appeals greatly to all other aficionados of Indonesian art. This book is indeed a pleasure to the eye and thus inviting to be leafed through regularly. Highly recommended!

[Marcokeris]

The book is very nice with very nice keris and VERY VERY VERY VERY NICE hits (the best i never seen together Jensen' Krisdisc and Kerner's work).
If the photos of keris was been more big (the same of JAWA KERIS) the book would be n° 1 .
Of course this is my opinion (sorry for my english)

[kulbuntet]

Here a preview of the book.

http://www.kitlv.nl/pdf_documents/asia-javkris.pdf

regards Michel

[David]

Apparently this book will be available from Amazon starting July 15, but according to their listing it is only 272 pages. Does anyone know if this is a misprint or if this edition will really be 16 pages shorter. It would be good to know it's just an error because at $77 USD and free shipping this is quite a savings over getting it from Europe and paying the additional shipping.
http://www.amazon.com/Javanese-Kris-...4647690&sr=1-1

[asomotif]

Well, the front is different for starters.
And less pages... maybe less pictures, that would save some money.
The price is really low compared to Eur 75 here in Europe.

Maybe Arjan / Mandaukudi knows. He has Groneman in his bookshop.
(together with an enormous bunch of other nice and very nice upto mega nice books

[Mytribalworld]

Originally Posted by asomotif

Well, the front is different for starters.
And less pages... maybe less pictures, that would save some money.
The price is really low compared to Eur 75 here in Europe.

Maybe Arjan / Mandaukudi knows. He has Groneman in his bookshop.
(together with an enormous bunch of other nice and very nice upto mega nice books

Hi Willem,

Thanks for the compliment.

About Gronemann , I will contact the publisher about it. I think they will indeed make a USA edition what has some less pictures than the original edition. The edition should be limited to 500 copies to the information I have recieved from the publisher.( I also noted one large bookstore was out of stock) Also the rigths on the photo's are calculated on 500 editions. I can imagine that they have dropped a few pics to keep the book below the price of 90 dollar printing extra editions for the USA market.

But as I already said I will check if this is correct,

friendly regards,

Arjan.

[kulbuntet]

Originally Posted by asomotif

Well, the front is different for starters.
And less pages... maybe less pictures, that would save some money.
The price is really low compared to Eur 75 here in Europe.

Maybe Arjan / Mandaukudi knows. He has Groneman in his bookshop.
(together with an enormous bunch of other nice and very nice upto mega nice books

Hi Willem,

As far as i know the book here in holland is 65 euro, 68,50 at a wel known Keris /Antique shop.

Regards Michel