20th Century Solonese Keris

A. G. Maisey · 16th May 2007, 01:40 PM

Yes, I understand what you are saying Marco.

However.

Many of these new pattern handles are not intended to be used as keris handles. They are created expressly for the handle collector market as minor works of art, which of course, they are.

The collection of handles is a legitimate branch of keris art collecting. Even PBX was into it, and commissioned small sculptures in the form of keris handles, which were never intended for fitting to a keris, but as works of art in their own right.

There is a wide range of small sculptures in the form of keris handles, as well as all levels of quality of handles intended for use with keris, and although you identify "western taste" as a design factor, I am afraid that I cannot isolate any of these handles as being able to be classified as "western taste". Possibly some of the more pornographic of these small sculptures might not be very welcome in public in Jawa, but in other parts of Indonesia , Indonesians will get a laugh out of them, just as will a tourist from New York or Sydney.

We sometimes tend to forget that much of the art that we now view as Javanese, or Balinese, or whatever, is derived from the artistic traditions of other cultures.

Of course, there can be well executed art, and poorly executed art, and to confuse matters even more, we all have differing tastes.

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16th May 2007, 01:40 PM	#10
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,044	Yes, I understand what you are saying Marco. However. Many of these new pattern handles are not intended to be used as keris handles. They are created expressly for the handle collector market as minor works of art, which of course, they are. The collection of handles is a legitimate branch of keris art collecting. Even PBX was into it, and commissioned small sculptures in the form of keris handles, which were never intended for fitting to a keris, but as works of art in their own right. There is a wide range of small sculptures in the form of keris handles, as well as all levels of quality of handles intended for use with keris, and although you identify "western taste" as a design factor, I am afraid that I cannot isolate any of these handles as being able to be classified as "western taste". Possibly some of the more pornographic of these small sculptures might not be very welcome in public in Jawa, but in other parts of Indonesia , Indonesians will get a laugh out of them, just as will a tourist from New York or Sydney. We sometimes tend to forget that much of the art that we now view as Javanese, or Balinese, or whatever, is derived from the artistic traditions of other cultures. Of course, there can be well executed art, and poorly executed art, and to confuse matters even more, we all have differing tastes.