Wax (?) on the pendok

[kino]

Is there a reason why a Pendok might be covered in red wax?
It seems to be wax. There are traces of wax on the Pendok that suggests the it was entirely covered in wax, except on the front vegetative motif.

[A. G. Maisey]

It was kemalo, red lacquer, in a Central Javanese palace hierarchy this red lacquer was & is the prerogative of a bupati (regent, district governor, or a member of the royal family).

Kemalo is fragile, it needs attentive care to ensure it stops in place.

However,this looks very much like a Jogja pendok, and the wrongko & hilt are Solo, so I think what we might have here is somebody who needed to replace the Solo pendok & did not know the difference between Solo & Jogja dress.

[Gustav]

I also thought of Pendok looking Jogja - but the upper end of Pendok and Slorok aren't typical Jogja at all. They look like they were intended to match with a Solo Atasan from beginning.

[kino]

Would such a blade be worthy to be housed in a red lacquered Pendok.

Also an image of the wrongko from the top.

[Rick]

Is the wrongko carved from a piece of teak burl?
It's quite lovely with the grain going in so many directions.

Worthy of the dress?
I think so.

[A. G. Maisey]

Rick, yes, burl teak (jati gembol)

Gustav, it is a very easy job to fit just about any pendok to just about any wrongko.

Kino, this is a very nice blade, but it is not the nature of the blade that decides what the pendok on the wrongko should look like, it is the hierarchical position of the person who will wear the keris.

[Rick]

Yes, and the Wilah which is the heart; may have been associated with special events in its past.
That we can only guess about .

[Gustav]

Alan - but not the end of such Slorok with elaborated pattern.

[A. G. Maisey]

Gustav, the center front panel is a slorok, it is a separate part to the body of the pendok, the open end of the pendok can be made flat, or it can be made curved, this one has been made flat.

In the pic it looks Jogja, but it is difficult to know from the pic if the overall decrease from open end to closed end is sufficient for a Jogja pendok.

However, we can fit just about any sort of pendok to just about any sort of wrongko, it is an easy thing for a m'ranggi, and even for an experienced collector it is no big deal.

[Gustav]

Alan, the upper end of Jogja Slorok should be more curved, as should be the end of Pendok on the backside. We can adjust the backside of such Pendok, but not the end of a Slorok with elaborated pattern and pronounced border at the Atasan without making a new border part for that adjustment there (which nevertheless wouldn' fit the overall pattern). I doubt that was the case here.

[kino]

Rick - could a special event be court related?

Gustav & Alan - thank you for your input.

[Sajen]

Hello Albert,

Here you can see how a kemalo pendok looks like.

Regards,
Detlef

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by kino

Rick - could a special event be court related?

See here: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showpo...8&postcount=15

[kino]

Thank you for showing the image of the kemalo Pendok, also for the added information.

They apply the lacquer thick and heavy on the Pendok, looking at the remnants of my example.

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by kino

They apply the lacquer thick and heavy on the Pendok, looking at the remnants of my example.

Yes, and I guess that the problem is often climate change, I've seen several pendoks where the kemalo is cracked or completely gone.

Regards,
Detlef

[A. G. Maisey]

Gustav, some are curved at the top, some are not. Some Jogja pendok are made for court dress some are not. There is a lot of variation in pendoks & other dress and this is particularly true where where dress has been made to order, or made outside a major hub. Just because something does not follow a pattern such as we are used to seeing, that does not mean it misses a classification entirely.

What I said in my previous post was that it looked like Jogja. The thing that would make it Jogja or not is not the curve at the top of the pendok, it is the overall form, & whether or not that form fits the Jogja style. Lots of different pendoks from lots of different areas have a curved top, but the Jogja style pendok has a more narrow buntut that Solo or Banyumas.

Incidentally, if we wanted to turn a Jogja pendok with a curved top into a pendok with a flat top, that is a pretty easy thing to do, we just square it off & give it a new lis. No big deal. Stuff like this are sometimes done.

[Gustav]

Well, I also wrote, it doesn't look like typical Jogja. By the way, the other Keris posted here by Sajen has a similar Pendok combined with a Solo Atasan.

[A. G. Maisey]

Which post number is that Gustav?

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Which post number is that Gustav?

Post #3!

[Gustav]

Alan, that's #12.

Flat top, Jogja Buntut, Solo Atasan.

[A. G. Maisey]

Post #12 Gustav?

You can see Jogja characteristics in this sunggingan pendok?

Am I correct in this assumption?

Detlef, I was referring to the picture of another similar pendok, it was a picture I was looking for, perhaps Gustav has formed the opinion that your sunggingan has a pendok body that displays Jogja characteristics.

[Gustav]

Yes Alan, you are wright in this assumption - the Buntut of Sunggingan Pendok is Jogja style, as the Buntut of the initial Keris of this thread is.

[A. G. Maisey]

Interesting opinion Gustav.

Thank you.

[A. G. Maisey]

Here we have a few pendoks.

From the left we have two pendoks that most collectors at the present time would classify as Banyumas, however, these two pendoks both came off very old Surakarta (ie, Solo) gayaman wrongkos.

The third pendok from the left is a Solo Bunton, that is followed by a Jogjakarta Bunton, then a Solo Bunton, then a Jogjakarta witth a slorok, then a Solo Blewah, then a Jogjakarta with a slorok, then a Solo Blewah, then a Jogjakarta Blewah, the last two items in this line are sloroks, one from a Jogjakarta pendok, one from a Solo pendok.

Note the difference in overall profile, and the way in which the Jogja style pendok narrows towards the buntut (literally "tail", "rear end"), something that is difficult to see in a photo is that the buntut of a Jogja pendok is much more rounded than a Solo pendok buntut.

The overall profile of the pendok that Kino posted a photo of is that of a Solo pendok, however, it has a slorok that is decidedly Jogjakarta in style. The slorok of Kino's pendok could have been produced by alteration, but it is more likely that the entire pendok was made on a Solo sanglon (mandrel) in a Jogja workshop, most likely in Imogiri.

[rasdan]

Hi everybody,

What Alan said is spot on. Pendok in first post is a made in Jogja for Solo keris. So it is a Solo pendok wannabe and looks more like a Jogja pendok. I have one example but it is currently with a tukang for repair.

Another type is Solo pendok but made with repoussé technique. That is also Jogja made. I dont know if there are old Solo pendok that uses repoussé technique.

All this are new and typical pengrajin level works. I don't know if older ones exists although the one in the first post look like it has some age to it.

There is trend of mixing Jogja and Solo features on warangkas. But to my knowledge it is more towards styling and not with that type pendok. And I don't know how old is the trend or whether it is a legit style or just newer creation.

[Gustav]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Lots of different pendoks from lots of different areas have a curved top, but the Jogja style pendok has a more narrow buntut that Solo or Banyumas.

Note the difference in overall profile, and the way in which the Jogja style pendok narrows towards the buntut (literally "tail", "rear end"), something that is difficult to see in a photo is that the buntut of a Jogja pendok is much more rounded than a Solo pendok buntut.

The Buntut of Sunggingan Wrongko actually is perhaps even slightly more rounded then Kino's one.

[Gustav]

Irrelevant