Shadow Keris

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes Kai Wee, perhaps you're right about the pics of KLO's --- but they would be useful.

However.

Style and personal taste may be a factor in how we structure our collections, but speaking for myself, I do not apply the same standards to all keris. I can like one keris for one thing, a different keris for a different thing, so whether we're talking about recent flamboyance, or the quiet grace of a previous time, it makes no difference to my personal appraisal, because I do not apply the same standards to every keris:- one is appraised according to one set of standards, another is appraised according to a different set of standards, and my personal taste encompasses all variations.

In fact, some of the keris which I consider to be "core collection" are keris which I believe the vast bulk of collectors, and most certainly all connoisseurs, would not look at twice.


When we introduce the requirement for a blade to be able to be used as a weapon, we have started down a new road.

Probably the two most generally accepted relevant factors for use as a weapon are firstly balance, and secondly that the blade has undergone some form of heat treatment.

As a weapon a keris is essentially a short rapier. It needs to be able to pierce. It does not usually need to be able to pierce metal, nor even leather, it needs to pierce soft fabric and skin. However, at the time in history when keris might have had to pierce metal, at least some Javanese mpus did make blades that were capable of doing this.

Even an iron blade will function well as a weapon when only fabric and skin need to be pierced, and iron cannot be hardened. In fact, even sharpened bambu makes an effective weapon when only fabric and skin need to be pierced.

So how relevant is the requirement of a heat-treat to the function of a blade as a weapon?

A keris is not a tool for cutting, as is a skinning knife, so it does not need to be able to hold an edge particularly well.

The makers of times past were well aware of this, and they were also well aware that when you harden steel you weaken it.

This is the reason why old blades were never hardened for their full length, and very often we will find an old blade that has only had the first few inches back from the point hardened.

If we consider the question of balance, we find that many Javanese nem-neman blades have appalling balance. Sometimes in Solo these keris are referred to as "crowbars" (lingis). However these keris are very highly regarded and carry values in accordance with this high regard.

In respect of a very high quality newly made keris, that has not been subjected to heat treatment, or one of the Javanese nem-neman keris that have not been heat treated, the matter of accidental damage to an edge is not something that is open to consideration, for the simple reason that these keris are treated as very valuable art works and any action that could cause damage to the blade is carefully guarded against.

It is not relevant to compare a Japanese blade to a keris, especially a Javanese keris, as the way in which each of these blades are appraised is entirely different.

Equally, it is not valid to appraise all the various types of keris under the same set of standards:- the standards that we can apply to a Javanese keris are not necessarily valid when applied to a keris from a different area, and the same is true of keris which come from different periods in time. We do not appraise a keris from the time of Pakubuwana X in the same way as we do a keris from the classification of Pajang.

Whilst it is true that we each might have our own standards for those things that we collect, and these standards will reflect our own individual tastes, it is equally true that in any field of art or craft there are certain universal standards that are agreed to by the broad population of collectors in that field.

It is these standards that perhaps we could attempt to delineate.

If the minimum requirements for a keris to be regarded as "real" could be set forth, then perhaps we might find that some of these KLO's are in fact just keris that have failed to achieve an acceptable standard of quality, rather than objects that are not in fact, keris.


The photo below is submitted with this question:-

Is this blade a keris?