Viking Norse Keris for comment

[alexish]

I just commissioned new sarung for a Javanese keris blade, which has carved Viking Norse Motifs.

All comments are welcome.

[David]

Welcome to the forum Alexish.
I can't say that i see the reasoning behind this particular kind of cross-culturalism, but it does seem to be technically and artistically well executed.

[A. G. Maisey]

Sumenep.

I feel that perhaps we will find that the keris itself is a rather recent one in an East Javanese style.

[alexish]

I attach more pictures of my Viking Norse Keris with blade, including pictures of the original Viking Norse designs that inspired me.

[David]

Perhaps you can share with us your thinking here Alex. I thought at first perhaps you were of Norse descent (which may still be true) however your location seems to be in Hong Kong. We all collect keris for various reasons. Mine, at least in part, is a deep interest the cultures of Indonesia and a desire to study and preserve this cultures so dressing a blade like this is pretty antithetical to my own thinking on the subject. Do you have a particular fascination with Viking culture or see particular similarities between these cultures?

[alexish]

I was inspired to commission a keris sarung based on Viking Norse design, because I see such strong parallels between the Vikings and the sea-faring cultures of the Malay Archipelago such as the Bugis and the Moros, which all have piracy traditions. Additionally, Bugis adventurers founded various new kingdoms in other parts of the Malay World such as Selangor in Malaysia. This is similiar to Viking adventurers who founded the duchy of Normandy, that led to the Norman conquest of England.

[alexish]

Here are additional pictures of the Viking Norse Keris, including pictures of the Oseberg Viking ship that inspired the Warangka.

[alexish]

Sorry, wrong picture attached. This should be the correct picture, instead of the blue arrow.