Bugis Keris

David · 31st March 2021, 09:40 PM

Thanks for your input Jean. The hilt does seem to be a bit of an enigma. A little bit each of different style as you have noted. Certainly it has good age as i think the patina shows. My first impressions brought be to Sumatra, but as i stated, in two separate keris pages i posted this on it was about 75% Terengganu or more to a minority claiming Sumatra. For what it is worth these were mostly the opinions of Indonesian collectors. I suppose it is possible that the sheath is what is swaying those assumptions. But like you my understanding of Peninsula keris is rather limited and i still have a lot of difficulty deducing the differences between Malay sheath forms. The blade itself seems a typical Bugis style so it does not, for me at least, reveal anything about origin. Could be from anywhere he Bugis settled which covers a bit of ground.
I noted the one dotted line down the front of the hilt and also wondered about hippo, but i have seen the open root hole on the top of hilts more often with whale teeth hilts so i wasn't sure. Regardless it has a wonderful color and consistency. I think the colour of ivory is very often caused by its environment so perhaps that is not necessarily a deciding factor in a determination of the material's source.

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31st March 2021, 09:40 PM	#4
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,211	Thanks for your input Jean. The hilt does seem to be a bit of an enigma. A little bit each of different style as you have noted. Certainly it has good age as i think the patina shows. My first impressions brought be to Sumatra, but as i stated, in two separate keris pages i posted this on it was about 75% Terengganu or more to a minority claiming Sumatra. For what it is worth these were mostly the opinions of Indonesian collectors. I suppose it is possible that the sheath is what is swaying those assumptions. But like you my understanding of Peninsula keris is rather limited and i still have a lot of difficulty deducing the differences between Malay sheath forms. The blade itself seems a typical Bugis style so it does not, for me at least, reveal anything about origin. Could be from anywhere he Bugis settled which covers a bit of ground. I noted the one dotted line down the front of the hilt and also wondered about hippo, but i have seen the open root hole on the top of hilts more often with whale teeth hilts so i wasn't sure. Regardless it has a wonderful color and consistency. I think the colour of ivory is very often caused by its environment so perhaps that is not necessarily a deciding factor in a determination of the material's source.