Golden keris

Boedhi Adhitya · 18th April 2007, 10:03 AM

Regarding the keris #1, well, the gold (if it really gold) certainly new and badly executed. But the blade isn't easily judged from the pictures. It could be old. A newly made keris of this quality from Madura should deserves better kinatah. If not, it only wasting the work of the pande/tukang potong. The dressing, especially the warangka, or more specifically, the wood grains, is good, if not superb. Fragrance sandalwood with Nganam kepang grains (or ndaging urang ?)

About the pendok, as Alan said, embossing is never equal of engraving in the sheer quality. Surakarta tends to prefer the engraving (or 'cukitan') while Jogjakarta prefer the embossing (tatah) technique.

On the pendok #2, Marcokeris has what it called 'tatah wudhulan' (Haryono in his book probably refers it as 'pendulan',(?)). We should have what it seems as a 'rough' surfaces, but should be very 'clear' and details. To achieve this, the craftmen use at least 3 embossing process, first from the face, then from the back and then from the face again. Thus, it is important to have a separate 'center plate' (slorok). Unfortunately, no craftmen today is able to produce the same quality as the old pendok shows. If it really made of suasa and gold, it would cost you somewhere near $1,000 (1$=Rp.10,000.), if you could find one.

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18th April 2007, 10:03 AM	#24
Boedhi Adhitya Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 103	Regarding the keris #1, well, the gold (if it really gold) certainly new and badly executed. But the blade isn't easily judged from the pictures. It could be old. A newly made keris of this quality from Madura should deserves better kinatah. If not, it only wasting the work of the pande/tukang potong. The dressing, especially the warangka, or more specifically, the wood grains, is good, if not superb. Fragrance sandalwood with Nganam kepang grains (or ndaging urang ?) About the pendok, as Alan said, embossing is never equal of engraving in the sheer quality. Surakarta tends to prefer the engraving (or 'cukitan') while Jogjakarta prefer the embossing (tatah) technique. On the pendok #2, Marcokeris has what it called 'tatah wudhulan' (Haryono in his book probably refers it as 'pendulan',(?)). We should have what it seems as a 'rough' surfaces, but should be very 'clear' and details. To achieve this, the craftmen use at least 3 embossing process, first from the face, then from the back and then from the face again. Thus, it is important to have a separate 'center plate' (slorok). Unfortunately, no craftmen today is able to produce the same quality as the old pendok shows. If it really made of suasa and gold, it would cost you somewhere near $1,000 (1$=Rp.10,000.), if you could find one.