Bugis Keris

[Spunjer]

thanks for the comment, Jean! my apologies on the terminologies. so what's the difference between a selut and a mendak? nevertheless, i will have it tested.
i looked inside the scabbard and it appears to be older: uniform dark patina all the way as far as i can see.

[Jean]

The selut (javanese term) or pedongkok (Sumatra/ Malay term) is the cup inserting the base of the hilt while the mendak is the conical piece inserted between a javanese hilt and the blade.
Regards

[Sajen]

Hi Ron,

agree, very nice keris. I could be wrong but I think that your keris coming from North Sumatra, maybe Gayo. The scabbard missing maybe it's foot.

Regards,
Detlef

[Spunjer]

thanks for the comment, Detlef! that was my initial thought, that the foot (buntut?) was missing, but upon closer look, the patina is uniform throughout with no sign of having anything attached to it. of course there's a possibility that it might have one at certain point, but if it did, it must have came off early in its life.

[David]

I really like this keris. The hilt is both beautiful and unusual. The blade is quite nice as well. As Jean stated in his second reply, pendokok is probably a better term than selut for the hilt cup. Of course one could always just say "hilt cup". While we are discussing terminology i am not sure i would refer to the bevelled surfaces here as gusen. Again this is Javanese terminology, but AFAIK gusen refers to a rather narrow bevel right at the very edge of the blade. The classic Bugis bevel here seems too broad to be referred to in this way, but maybe i am mistaken on that front.
I'm not sure if there was ever a buntet on this sheath stem or not. A shot from the bottom might clear that up. I wouldn't worry about the age of the sheath as much as i would the quality. Dress on Indonesian keris are often changed throughout the life of the blade. One would not really expect to find an original sheath on an old blade. Looks like nice wood. Nothing fancy in the carving, but certainly competent. If it also fits the blade well than i would say it is a good marriage. Would love to hear if the hilt cup turns out to be gold.

[A. G. Maisey]

It is perfectly legitimate to refer to the blade bevel as a "gusen" -- if we are to use Javanese terms to describe this blade, and since we use the word "keris" to describe the overall blade, then we probably should be OK to use "gusen" as well.

In fact, "gusen" is variation of "kusen", which is a variation of "kosen".

"kosen" is a frame, as in a window frame or a door frame.

the blade bevel frames the blade, thus "gusen", or "kusen", or "kosen".

In Central Jawa you will see signs outside businesses along the street that advertise that they make "gusen", or "kusen", or "kosen". These places make window and door frames, as well as other joinery.

A lot of the words that we use to describe parts of a keris are perfectly ordinary words, in many cases ordinary words used in order to hide the true names, because the true names are select knowledge.

One keris term I've always got a smile out of is "sogokan" --- this is pronounced "sogo'an", the "k" is a glottal stop.

A sogokan is a poker, as in a stick, or a pipe or similar used to poke something else, for instance, if your storm-water outlet was blocked, you'd use a sogokan to clear it.

I like David's "blade bevel" actually:- its fine to know the indigenous terms, but often the English term is more easily understood by English speakers.

[Spunjer]

thanks for the lesson in terminology! "Buntet" sounds easy enough to remember: in tagalog "buntot" means tail, so i'm assuming the toe on the scabbard has a similar connotation?
here's the close up of the bottom. as mentioned earlier, the patina is uniformed throughout

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

It is perfectly legitimate to refer to the blade bevel as a "gusen" -- if we are to use Javanese terms to describe this blade, and since we use the word "keris" to describe the overall blade, then we probably should be OK to use "gusen" as well.

In fact, "gusen" is variation of "kusen", which is a variation of "kosen".

"kosen" is a frame, as in a window frame or a door frame.

the blade bevel frames the blade, thus "gusen", or "kusen", or "kosen".

In Central Jawa you will see signs outside businesses along the street that advertise that they make "gusen", or "kusen", or "kosen". These places make window and door frames, as well as other joinery.

A lot of the words that we use to describe parts of a keris are perfectly ordinary words, in many cases ordinary words used in order to hide the true names, because the true names are select knowledge.

One keris term I've always got a smile out of is "sogokan" --- this is pronounced "sogo'an", the "k" is a glottal stop.

A sogokan is a poker, as in a stick, or a pipe or similar used to poke something else, for instance, if your storm-water outlet was blocked, you'd use a sogokan to clear it.

I like David's "blade bevel" actually:- its fine to know the indigenous terms, but often the English term is more easily understood by English speakers.

Thanks Alan. I wasn't so much arguing whether a Javanese term was appropriate here, but whether the bevel aspect of this classic Bugis blade form really qualifies to be described as a "frame for this style of blade. The bevelled aspects of this blade are the majority of the entire blade so i find it harder to see it as a "frame" for the blade in this case.