Kemardikan Madurese keris with 4 kembang kacang

[Jean]

I am in full agreement with Alan's opinion and also much prefer traditional art to modern one and this includes the keris especially....
May be because I am part of "orang tangguh tua"?
Regards

[alexish]

Dear fellow collectors,

All your comments are really appreciated.

Note that although the wilah is kelengan, forge lines are still visible, as shown in the attached picture.

[David]

I also agree with Alan that as part of modern keris art this is an aspect of keris culture that we simply need to accept, even if many of us do not enjoy it. I would never personally consider collecting a keris like this, but to each their own. Just as i can walk into the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and find countless paintings and sculptures that i find hideous in appearance and execution that are still being accepted by the art world as worthy of display.
This particular work bothers me even further since it is mixing elements of more than one keris culture, including unduk-unduk (seahorse) figures that AFAIK are only to be found on certain Peninsula keris. So the whole thing is a bit of a fantasy piece to my eye and nothing that would likely ever be seen as a serious keris by either a Madurese or Malaysian. But it is nicely crafted for sure. As an art piece it seems that many of these young keris makers have it in their heads that they must re-invent the wheel and that some more is better. I will maintain the old adage that LESS is actually more in these cases. Not my cuppa tea for sure.

[drdavid]

Hi Alexish
this appears very skilfully made, both the blade and the dress. Can you tell us more about the piece, was it made for a competition, was it commissioned, or was it perhaps purely to see if it could be done. Did the maker have a reason for leaving the forge lines visible, why did they chose to integrate 4 kembang kacang.
cheers
Drd

[alexish]

Originally Posted by drdavid

Hi Alexish
this appears very skilfully made, both the blade and the dress. Can you tell us more about the piece, was it made for a competition, was it commissioned, or was it perhaps purely to see if it could be done. Did the maker have a reason for leaving the forge lines visible, why did they chose to integrate 4 kembang kacang.
cheers
Drd

Dear Dr. David,

the keris was commissioned directly from the maker who resides in Aeng Tong Tong. I enclose some pictures of the different stages by which the keris was made. The same person made both the sheath and the blade, which is extraordinary.

[David]

Alexish, i'm not sure that you really addressed Dr. David's questions other than acknowledging that this was a commissioned piece.
Was it commissioned by you personally for your own collection?
If so i am also curious to hear the answers to the questions that Dr. D asked. I am also curious why you would have commissioned the maker to add the unduk-unduk (seahorse) figures into the design since these are not really relevant to Madurese and Javanese style keris.

[alexish]

The keris wilah and sarung are entirely my design, inspired by the following attached images.