Keris Jawa?

[A. G. Maisey]

Thank you for that further information Gustav.

So only the keris in post #28 is definitely from a maker attached to the Pakualamanan, and this keris dates from +/-1875?

Very interesting, thank you.

You say that the five keris mentioned in "The Javanese Keris" were commissioned by Mr. Heger?

It seems I have misunderstood what is printed on P.45 of this book. There it tells us that some pieces of Prambanan meteorite were given to Mr. Heger by (I assume) the Sultan of Ngayogyakarta.

Groneman is the writer, and he refers to "our empu" in this text several times. I cannot find a mention of who actually did the commission the five blades, and have always assumed that Heger provided the material, Groneman commissioned the work for the purpose of documenting it.

But you know as a certainty that it was Heger who commissioned the work?

Again, interesting, & I thank you for this clarification.

Thank you for identifying the keris that you know for certain were made by Karyodikromo. I'm guessing that you have obtained this information from sources outside of "The Javanese Keris"?

I've perused the notes for the illustrated kerises & I cannot find a maker identified for kerises 11, 12, 16, 18, the notes only refer to "the empu". All these keris have a long point, bear in mind, this is Surakarta perspective, and the ideal Surakarta keris has a short point & buntut tumo form.

I can find makers identified for:-

Fig 17 --- Karyodikromo
Fig 15 --- Supotaruno
Fig. 19 --- Karyodikromo
Fig. 20 --- Supotaruno

Fig. 15 is a keris commissioned by Groneman , so we know that he was working with empus other only Karyodikromo.

Since you know for a certainty that these other keris that are not attributed to any particular empu in the notes, was in fact Karyodikromo, I assume you have information from sources other than only the book?

Or maybe I did not read sufficient or sufficiently carefully everything that is in the book? This is entirely possible, I start to read a keris book full of hope, then I find ridiculous and just plain wrong statements, and my hope just dribbles away.

The notes for the kerises shown in the plates (P.264, plate 8, 9, 10, Fig. 1, 3, 4) name Karyodikromo as the maker of the keris in Fig. 1, but there seems to be no mention of the maker of the two other kerises. Is this information included in the book "The Javanese Keris"?

The keris in the coloured photo shown on P.233 has indicators that incline substantially towards a Surakarta classification.

Interestingly, the keris in the plates, Fig. 1, 3, 4 all seem to bear characteristics that could see them considered for a Godean classification, but as I have previously commented, distortion of proportion occurs so frequently during the photographic process, and also during the printing process that it is frequently not possible to be confident about giving a classification from a published image.

To use tangguh classification correctly we really do need the keris to be in hand, there is only a very limited amount of information that can be transmitted by a photograph.

Gustav, you are extremely fortunate to have the custody of two keris produced by Karyodikromo, I do not know personally anybody who has custody of even one keris by this maker, and I have never seen --- except in photos --- nor handled a keris that could with certainty be attributed to this maker. I compliment you upon your good fortune.

[Gustav]

On commission - Groneman writes, p. 44: "I was permitted, in the name of the Austrian Senior Governmental Administrator Franz Heger, the well-known ethnologist and ethnographer, to commission the production of five krisses, each of which was to be decorated with one of the five ancient Javanese pamor motifs (...)"

Dr. Heger, Head of the Anthropological-Ethnographical Department of the Imperial Art History Museum in Vienna, writes in his report: "Thanks to the friendly mediation of Dr. Groneman, the reporter was introduced to the representative of Prince Paku Allam in Djokja, who commissioned his court blacksmith to produce five kris blades with the main Pamors for the Court Museum in Vienna"

This Pakualaman representative is Pangeran Arjo Noto di Rodjo.

The five straight blades still are in Vienna, the Museum is now called Welt Museum.

Groneman served as a middleman also for other persons, ordering Keris from Karyodikromo.

Most of Keris Groneman were given, had acquired, or commissioned for himself after his death were given to the Museum in Leiden.

I hope this clarifies the matter.

Regarding the last Luk, I would like to object - Keris 11, 12, 16 don't have a long last Luk, the shape of this last Luk is typical for Karyodikromo. Keris 18 is here an exeption.

Incidentally, description of Keris on p. 233 in museums online catalogue includes the mention it has been made by Karyodikromo.

For the other Keris in collection, which are 1 and 3, no such mentions can be find.

I can assure you, that, when Groneman mentions "the Empu" or "our Empu" without a name in descriptions of plates or in other articles devoted to smithing in Pakualaman, he means Karyodikromo.

Of course I am avare of the fact, that a word of a person with knowledge that has been gained in the absence of adequate time & experience & tuition means as much as a lecture of 6 years old child on the intricacies of Quantum Mechanics. I guess I must live with this bitter yoke, which surely will last forever on me.

I am very pleased to be able to accept your compliments.