Sundang-kris puzzler

[Rick]

A very nice find.
Do you suppose the hilt was carved from a burl or natural crook of wood?
That might explain the void (soft wood/bark?) in the underside .

[A. G. Maisey]

Very peculiar.

Never seen anything like it.

[Rick]

I love the way the grain radiates from a central point.
A nice piece of timber.

[BluErf]

Originally Posted by Rick

A very nice find.
Do you suppose the hilt was carved from a burl or natural crook of wood?
That might explain the void (soft wood/bark?) in the underside .

Typically, only the root portion of the kemuning trunk is used to make the sheath and the hilt. As the kumuning is more of a very slow-growing bush than a tree, it has to be a hundred or two hundred years old to have a thick enough root portion for the sheath. Hilts can come from smaller bushes.

The kemuning trees that grow in very harsh environment has the most beautiful grains. Sometimes, the root grows over rocky/sandy soil, and the root envelopes sand or rock within itself. Some pieces of kemuning wood thus have sand within the wood that is so compacted that they have literally become sandstone. This hilt could have had that void because of this. Normally, such kemuning are not used, but for some reason, this hilt is made out of such a piece. Perhaps for esoteric reasons - insertion of talisman, etc?.

The way the grain radiates out of the centre top of the sheath seems to be a Sulawesi characteristic. I don't see this sort of "radiation" (hmm... sounds nuclear ) on kemuning sheaths from other regions.

[Alam Shah]

The void in the underside of the hilt, could be made intentional to insert talisman or many other items. Just a guess.

If used as a slashing weapon, it could cause a lot of stress to the pesi. With this bugis type of hilt I wonder how is it used? Maybe it is more of a status symbol piece but also double as a functional weapon?

[Rick]

Originally Posted by Alam Shah

If used as a slashing weapon, it could cause a lot of stress to the pesi. With this bugis type of hilt I wonder how is it used? Maybe it is more of a status symbol piece but also double as a functional weapon?

This keris does have a very robust pesi from what I can see.
My guess would be the same as your's Alam Shah; functional (in a pinch) status symbol.

A question: How often is chiseled decoration seen on Bugis blades ?

I really like the look of this example.

[Alam Shah]

Originally Posted by Rick

A question: How often is chiseled decoration seen on Bugis blades ?

From what I've seen before, it's quite uncommon. The one like this is very rare, indeed.