PALEMBANG HILT AND KERIS

[Alam Shah]

Originally Posted by DAHenkel

Moshah - There are a lot of variations of keris hilts from South Sumatra. Pak Ganja's hilt is generally understood to be a Palembang hilt. Yours on the other hand probably comes from somewhere else in South Sumatra - I suspect Lampung. I recall a couple similar examples provenanced to Lampung anyway. However there is so little information on these areas and unless or until we find a knowledgable local collector the area will remain imperfectly understood. I was just in Palembang and visited all the main local museums but unfortunately the only weapons display - in the Sultan Mahmud Badruddin Museum - was small and included several obviously non-Palembang pieces. It was not an edifying experience...

Hi, agreed with Dave's comments about both hilts. Palembang is a tricky place, as we know, it's a centre where many regional forms meet. There are locals in various keris/study groups, concentrating on the local forms. Karaeng Kesuma, is one such collector. There are others..