An 8-year journey
 

I bought this Balinese keris blade about 8 years ago - just the blade nothing else. With great assistance from Alan, it is finally properly dressed. Thank you very much, Alan. :)

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Stunning and subtle
 

A very stunning and at the same time subtle in appearance, congrats!

The hilt? What age is it?

Gav

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Wonderful work and blade! Congrats! :D

Thanks!

Pardon my hairy leg in one of the pictures. :D Didn't notice it until now.

The hilt is vintage.

Just in case some fellow forumnite is wondering why the ganja is sticking out a bit - we had a discussion thread a short while ago that concluded Balinese blades are supposed to sit a little tall on the sheath. So here it is... :)

Hello Kai Wee,

a very nice blade and a beautiful recent sarung and good hilt, congratulation!

Indeed! :)

Wow !! :cool:
Very tasteful combination .

This is lovely and takes my breath away. A great addition to your collection. Congrats!!

Hello Kai Wee

Very good decission.
This is a very tastefull keris.

Where did you have it stained / polished ? The blade looks very good !

As for the hilt. How old is vintage in this case ?

Best regards,
Willem

It is indeed a beautiful piece; the blade is a good blade, and all of the dress outstanding, congratulations!
In my mind it was certainly worth the 8 year old journey, it is breathtaking.

Regarding your statement quote: Just in case some fellow forumnite is wondering why the ganja is sticking out a bit - we had a discussion thread a short while ago that concluded Balinese blades are supposed to sit a little tall on the sheath. So here it is... unquote.

I am a little concerned that someone out there will take the statement to heart and decide that unless the blade is sitting a little tall on the sheath it is not a correct Bali/Lombok piece. That would be rather unfortunate as the evidence clearly show that Bali/Lombok keris can be legitimately mounted in either way.

As a back up to my humble statement I will invite you to visit the Tropenmuseum’s Bali collection and the Bali collection at Volkenkunde in Leiden, here you will find most of the pieces in their collections flush with the sheath, that evidence is overwhelming. Add that to the Djelenga book Keris di Lombok where the result is the same, and I am afraid we cannot say that it is a foregone conclusion that Bali/Lombok blades are supposed to sit a little tall on the sheath.

That said I really like the look of your piece, and with that I wish that more of mine have that look as well. But I gather that was left in the creative hands the tukang wrongko who did the scabbard.

As I mentioned there is no wrong way both scenarios are legitimate. ;)

Hello Willem,

The blade was like this when I bought it. It probably was old polish/staining though the blade was much darker when I purchased it. There was a thick oily layer on the blade, which I was told could be some sort of thick gun oil. Over the years, I cleaned it once every few months with Singer oil, which is a mineral parafin oil, and that removed the black oil layer and exposed more and more of the pamor beneath. I now keep the blade wrapped up in plastic in the sheath.

I can't remember, but the hilt could be from the 70s. Resin core, silver sheet exterior.

You make a good point about the kerises that are in Amsterdam and Leiden. I haven't had the chance to go there and see for myself yet!

nice work....but ring?

This link will save you a trip :)
Besides that I think that at best there will be a small handfull on display.
While their archive has many exemples and old pictures available.

http://collectie.tropenmuseum.nl/nBa...rt=ccrelevance

http://collectie.tropenmuseum.nl/nindex.asp?lang=en

Wow! Lucky you.

Congrats on this very nice addition !

This is the link to database at the Volkenkunde Museum in Leiden

http://www.rmv.nl/zoek_collectie.asp...for1=kris+bali

Not the best or accurate descriptions or photos but between the two museums most likely the most comprehensive collections of keris. ;)

Marco, if you are questioning the fact that there is no uwer on this keris i must point out that you will find many old Bali Keris without them. For my own personal taste i also like having a uwer on my keris, but i do not think that it is a requirement for a complete keris, especially when the flow of the ensemble is well matched. Sometimes what we Westerners have grown a custom to does not actually reflect the ethnographic reality. :)

David i agree with you...but if "properly dressed" means "complete dressed" i see that there is not the ring under the hit. (Of course is better to see no rings that ...for example.. a Jawa/Sumatra ring in a Lombok/Balì keris... and this uncorrect combination is rather easy to see in Western sellers or in Western museum) :)

Marco, i am not yet convinced that a uwer must be present for a Balinese keris to be "properly dressed" or "completely dressed" so i do not think that you do agree with me. That is what i am saying. :)

Auch !, this seems to be a thread whith some disagreements :) ;)

1. The tropenmuseum has a rather extensive database.
2. the items are properly named and most of the dated.
3. the pictures give the possibility to zoom in on the object, which is failing at RMV.

Look at the 2 examples where I zoomed in on the pictures.


http://collectie.tropenmuseum.nl/nBa...=&culturenode=

http://collectie.tropenmuseum.nl/nBa...=&culturenode=

Hmmm, one with uwer, one without. :D Both with ganja sticking out a bit... I did see a couple others with ganja sticking out slightly, but there were also 1 or 2 which seemed more or less flush with the sheath. :)

I did a quick and rough check on the Tropenmuseum collection.
Most keris on pictures being worn by balinese people have an uwer.
A lot of keris in their collection don't have uwer's. :shrug:

The Tropenmuseum website is able to zoom in on the pictures.
If you are mathematical / systematical, you can get some info from their collection.