What Constitutes a Kraton Keris?

[Boedhi Adhitya]

Sorry for joining very late in this thread. Perhaps I may add some experiences regarding this subject. Before discussing this subject, I believe we have to define Pusaka terminology, which seems very familiar to us, but in fact, it isn't :

First, (and always ) the confusing "Pusaka" terminology. Usually, it is translated as "HEIRLOOM" in English. To become a heirloom, it must be inherited. In this context, the Pusaka isn't limited only to kerises, but also to houses, rice fields, pendant/ring, etc. Thus, it is very subjective matters.
But in "Tosan Aji" world, (and only in "Tosan Aji" perhaps), especially in Java as I experienced myself, the "Pusaka" terminology may mean 'the top-high quality blades', a little bit more than just 'masterpieces', but for the sake of simplicity, it may be translated to "MASTERPIECES" in English. It is an objective matters.
By clearly define this terminology, I believe, our discussion would be much more easier.

Quoting questions proposed by Nechesh (which was quoted from Kai Wee ):

1. Are kraton kerises referring to the royal pusaka, or simply any keris that may be used/worn by a person working in the kraton, including the guards?

Kraton kerises are kerises which were made (or assumed were made) by the kratons/courts' Empus, whether it were Jogja, Solo, Mataram, Majapahit, etc, and not a village Empus. The keris which were worn by the servants/guards in Kraton is not necessarily a kraton blades. It is the qualities of material and workmanship which define the kraton kerises or not.

2. Must kraton kerises necessarily come out of the kraton armoury, or is it a reference to a certain level of quality?

In fact, it is a reference to a high quality blades, which, not surpraisingly, may only came out from kraton armoury. 99.9% of the high quality blades would only came from kraton armoury. The reasons is kerises, lances or swords were considered as a powerful weapons in the old days. Any one who could made high quality weapons would be considered dangerous (as anyone who could made a nuclear bom today), the technology would be kept as secret and the materials trading would be limited. The court would always seek the finest/talented Empus possible to work to the court and supply the materials needed. The Senior Empus of the court would teach this secret to his trusted, choosen pupils. The talented empus who refused to work to the court would be sentenced to death. Sending away the empus out of the kingdom wasn't an option, because, well, you know why This secrecy add fuels to the legends surrounding the kerises.
The fact that some of my fellow experienced-kerises connoiseurs claimed has found "the secret measurement formulas" of kerises, reinforced this hypothesis. By studying thousands of kerises, they argue that each and every court's empus had follow the same secret exact measurement principles on making the high-quality-court kerises, no matter from what court and age they came. ALL kraton kerises had the SAME 'vital measurement', which may not exhibited by the blade made by village empus. Now, they brought a vernier calipers to judge a keris!

3. Are kraton kerises made by empus, or could they have been kerises owned by founding sultans/sunans of the kraton, which may not have been made by an empu?

What 'kraton kerises' do you means? It is the ones belongs to Sultan, or to The Court ? Yes, in Jogjakarta, the Sultan's personal collections are different from The Court's Masterpieces (pusaka) collections. Today Court's collections which are kept in Gedong Pusaka (Pusaka Hall) consist of around 150's blades, less than 20's of them were made during the reign of HB I - VIII (1755-1940's) So, most of the collections are the old blades, made by the late Court's Empus before the Jogjakarta Sultanate. The 'Sepuh'/old is one of the preferred criteria. The Court collections may change from time to time, but since the late HB IX reign, there was no change had been made to the collection.


4. Can kraton pieces be 'inducted'? i.e. purchased from somebody and added to the armoury? If so, how long must it be inside the kraton to be considered a kraton piece?

Yes, it can. The Sultan HB V known for purchasing a lot of pusakas from outside of the Court to add the Court Collections. Many of them were a Court's Collection, but was gifted to the the princes by the late Sultans, and had handed down to their inheritor by the time the HB V reign. The HB V Court Armoury itself produced the finest Jogjakarta's blades ever made, known as Tangguh "Srimanganti", because the armoury took place in Srimanganti Hall, inside the palace. Some of the HB V armoury's masterpieces were kept on Pusaka Hall, right after they were made. The newly puchased kerises may also kept inside the Pusaka Hall. One thing the same, they must passed the very thight Court's Qualities Judgements. If we define Pusaka as only a Heirloom in this context, we would be confused.

A kraton piece is, IMHO, a kraton piece, even if it found outside the court. The quality, once again, tell.

5. "Rejected" kerises made by empu associated to a kraton - are these kraton pieces?

Yes, it is. A Kraton pieces, with a flaw, of course. As I mentioned before, the kraton ask for a very high qualities, perfect pieces. Something which we may not considered as a flaw, would became a flaw for kraton, and thus, cannot be kept inside the Pusaka Hall. In fact, the keraton always tried to add their Pusaka's Collections, but since the standard is very hight, it was very hard to find the keris which pass the quality judgement, even from the court armoury itself. Almost all the court armoury's blade (the nem-neman/young blades) I found outside the kraton had a flaw, or at least a reason, why it wasn't kept inside the Pusaka Hall, from the very-very-very minor ones to a major ones. This 'flaw' blade would be gifted to the royal families or court's servant, according to the ranks. Of course, the higher the rank, the better.

And also, just to share - there is a book published by the Yogya kraton. It has good pictures of the principal keris attributed to the Sultan, the crown prince, the Eldest son and the chief minister. The Sultan's own keris is a rather 'unspectacular' straight keris with a little bit of kinatah work and a combong. And I have seen the keris blade of the super gold Bugis keris on the cover of "Court Arts of Indonesia". That is a "normal-looking" 7-waved Bugis blade. No doubt a good tough blade with good form, but nothing fancy that we would imagine.

It is 'a great leap' for the kraton to let the pictures of their pusaka taken. The book bear some error: the keris pictures inverted, and some swapped. The Sultan's keris is Kanjeng Kyai Ageng Kopek. This keris was a gift from Pakubuwono III of Solo on Sultan Hamengkubuwono I's Coronation. The 'combong' you see isn't a real combong (that is, the breaking/sepparation of the blade because of the forging flaw), but the worn out 'sraweyan' from hundreds years lime juice etching, which in the end eat up the blade and made a hole in sraweyan. The warangka made from sandalwood, 'gandar iras' and the pendhok from plain semi-gold (swasa), the handle is tayuman burus/plain tayuman wood. Why this keris attributed to the Sultan himself ? Isn't there any luxurious, gold encased blade, with naga form in The Court Collections ? Wasn't there any gold pendok with diamonds ? Any ivory or gold handle ? Yes there are those luxurious, old pieces in Court Collection, but The Sultan had very carefully and wisely choose the Kanjeng Kyai Ageng Kopek to identified himself, for a good reason, of course. We must be thinking that The Court Collection would full of gold with luxurious scabbard. In fact, the higher the blade rank, the more simple it would be, and may deceive you easily. But be careful, the blade's quality isn't as simple as it looks

Best Regards,

Boedhi Adhitya