An Essential Reference for Students of the Keris

[A. G. Maisey]

In 2017 the gentleman who contributes to this Forum under the name of "Jean" gave the world kris collecting community a wonderful reference book that in my opinion should be in the bookshelves of every kris collector.

That book was reviewed here:-

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...6&page=1&pp=30

Well, Jean Greffioz has done it again.

He has just published another kris book, but this time it is a book that deals with only kris hilts, specifically, the kris hilts of Indonesia.

Pakubuwana X, the Susuhunan of Surakarta between 1893 and 1939 collected keris hilts, and in recent years the kris hilt has emerged again as a legitimate collectable in its own right. Many people collect only kris hilts, but others combine the collection of kris hilts with the collection of other forms of art.

These people who collect kris hilts come from the ranks of tribal art collectors, kris collectors, edged weapon collectors and all the way through to collectors of other types of Oriental carving, such as netsukes, and it must be said that the very best of kris hilts do reach the same, or sometimes a finer, level of artistic endeavour than do netsukes. I have a separate collection of kris hilts myself, currently numbering something in excess of 400 items.

Not only does Jean collect kris, he also collects kris hilts, and he has used his own very considerable collection for the photographs that populate this book. These photographs are excellent, they are large, sharp, and show fine detail well. Each photograph is accompanied by a classificatory caption and a few lines of text. In some cases Jean has extended the text to a few paragraphs, where he has felt the need to provide a lengthier explanation.

In the identification of these hilts Jean has used references that are well known, and accepted, by the world kris collecting community. The way in which the hilts have been classified will not disturb anybody's existing beliefs.

Jean's major contribution to the collection and study of the kris is in the way that he has assembled information from a number of accepted sources and organised that information in a way that makes it very easy to identify and classify an Indonesian kris hilt.

The hilts are grouped into eight chapters:-

Chapter 1: Figural kris hilts from North & West Java
Chapter 2: Figural kris hilts from East Java & Madura
Chapter 3: Figural kris hilts from Bali and Lombok
Chapter 4: "Bird" style kris hilts from Indonesia
Chapter 4: Jawa Demam style kris hilts from Indonesia
Chapter 6: Other figural kris hilts from Indonesia
Chapter 7: Floral kris hilts from Madura & East Java
Chapter 8: Other types of kris hilts from Indonesia
Bibliography

The chapter arrangement makes it very easy to positively identify an Indonesian kris hilt type. Rather than having to search through a pile of reference books that a Masai warrior couldn't jump over, all we need to do is use this one, comprehensive book of Jean's:- all the information needed to classify an Indonesian kris hilt is right there in one book.

This very valuable reference book contains 231 pages and 236 photographs, which present 251 hilts.

The photos leave nothing to the imagination:- clean, clear, crisp, detailed, realistic colour. In a word:- excellent.

The text gives all that is needed for identification, as well as some additional background information.

The book is printed on good quality, heavy duty art paper, and it has spiral binding.

I have found this spiral binding a nice change from the usual hardback binding, be it hardcover or softcover. Spiral binding facilitates ease of handling and in a reference book that is bound to see continual use in the hands of a collector, and thus is surely destined to develop loose binding and other damage, spiral binding permits very easy repair.

This book contains no wild theories nor controversial statements, it is pure, hard-line collector material, and as such it identifies itself as an essential reference for all kris collectors, whether beginners or people who have spent a lifetime in the study of the kris.


NB:- in this review I have used the spelling "kris", rather than "keris", I have done this because the author of the book reviewed has chosen to use the spelling "kris" in his work.

"Kris" is recognised in the Oxford Dictionary, Oxford regards "keris" as a Malay or Indonesian spelling requiring translation, and indeed this "keris" spelling is the correct spelling in these other languages.

In this Forum the correct Malay/Indonesian spelling of "keris" is used for the true keris, the spelling "kris" is used for Philippine development of the true keris. This is a distinction that applies only to this Forum, and was adopted to avoid confusion in discussion.

This book deals with hilts found on the Indonesian Keris, it does not deal with hilt variations found on the Philippine Kris.

[Bob A]

Eagerly awaiting purchase info.

Many thanks for the review/alert, Alan.

[Jean]

Alan, many thanks for your very positive review!
The interested collectors can contact me by PM, the number of copies is very limited at present but I will re-print as required, and those of you who reserved the book earlier will receive it in priority.
Best wishes for 2019 to all of you!

[David]

PM sent Jean. I'm looking forward to reading this new volume.

[Paul Duffy]

Alan, many thanks for the review.

Jean I'll send a request.

[Rick]

Jean,
Please put up a link in Keris Swap.