Some questions about Balinese hilt cup.

[A. G. Maisey]

Gustav, I would greatly appreciate it if you would very carefully read my previous posts again. It would be rewarding if you would try to clearly understand what I have written, you might find that I am not in disagreement with anything that you have written.

If my writing is insufficiently clear, I apologise for this, but I do try.

I have not commented upon any keris in any images posted after my post #12.

What I have written in respect of your keris shown in post #11 is this:-

"The complete keris that you have shown in post #11 looks to be a mixture of component parts, I cannot relate it to any other keris I remember having seen."

I have no reason to doubt that it has considerable age, nor that it was removed from its original location a long time ago.

To my eye, this keris does look to be a mixture of parts, or perhaps styles, & in fact this is far from unusual when we look at old keris that originated in locations that were not under the influence of a major society or centre of culture.

My remarks in respect of a Surabaya dealer of some years past refer to the two keris that are illustrated in Mr. Jensen's Kris Disc, one keris is "Fig 87 State Keris", the other Jensen keris is "Chapter 7 Pag 16". My opinion in respect of these two keris has been formed by what I saw in the stock of the Surabaya gentleman concerned on those occasions when I visited his premises.

Your keris shown in post #11, and the keris with dark sarung & dark bebondolan hilt shown in post #6 are both classifiable as kekandikan forms if we apply Balinese terminology & standards.

One thing about this variation in the forms of keris scabbards is this:- in times past the islands of the Malay Archipelago were covered in many places by dense forest, travel & communication was difficult, rivers were used as roads, and the influence of style & fashion in major population centres was very constricted.

In locations that were not under the direct influence of kraton, or puri, or trading entrepot, the dress used for keris often varied considerably from the style or form that inspired it. In a small, and or remote town or village, it was not unusual for the local lord to initiate his own form of a major style.

In kraton society in Jawa, and puri society in Bali, the members of the ruling line of descent would sometimes commission their own keris dress styles that varied a little from the usual, sometimes this variant for would be copied by other members of the court. A very good example of this is the difference between South Bali style & North Bali style.

Over the years I have encountered many examples of keris dress that have been difficult to relate to the major forms in use today & during the immediate past. I have also encountered many examples of complete keris that combined components & styles from a number of different locations.

There is nothing unusual about this. But the major forms are known, whilst variant forms are not known, & in some cases a variant form may well be a "one-off".