Sold for over €85k

[kino]

Must be very exceptional to bring in such a high value.

[A. G. Maisey]

I have been aware of this artefact from the time it appeared in the catalogue for the auction, my attention was drawn to it by several people, along with requests for comment.

Frankly, I have been, & still am, a bit reluctant to comment on the blade or the hilt, we can forget about the scabbard because that is clearly not out of SE Asia, although it might have begun its life there. Similarly, the content of the description is something I am not comfortable with addressing.

The comments that I think might be able to be made cannot reasonably be made from photographs, but for those people who truly do know keris, I feel that really, no comments of mine are particularly necessary.

Somebody has paid a lot of money for this item, the owner has received somewhat less, & I'm sure that the auction house is smiling. I do think it is best that I keep quiet.

But I will say one thing, the 6 figure price tag is not such an unusual sum of money for an old keris in excellent condition & with a high intrinsic value, very good keris do change hands for very high prices.

[David]

I thought that it would be good to place more photos of this keris here for our archives. Also i am posting photos of a Bali/Lombok keris that also achieved quite a high price at auction as well, €42,000. Buyers in this auction also pay 25% premiums on top of gavel prices plus tax, so at the end of the day even more was spent on these two keris.

[A. G. Maisey]

This is not an opinion, as I previously advised, I am unable to form one, so all I'm doing here is commenting, the comments are not directed at this item under discussion, but might perhaps be considered by those who have an interest in this item & the auctioneer's description.

Dhapur Panji Penganten is a very recent dhapur, according to Karaton Surakarta records, it came into existence during the reign of Pakubuwana IX, who held the throne from 1861 to 1893. The original form of the gandhik used in a Panji Penganten keris was two inward facing , conventional, kembang kacang. The abstracted form, where the two conventional kembang kacang are represented by a keyhole-like cutout, was a much later development that might have occurred in late colonial times, but which most people believe did not exist before the 1980's at earliest.

A primary identifying characteristic of the Javanese and Balinese keris, where it exists, is the form of the greneng, most especially the form of the ron dha, in Hindu belief the ron dha can be understood as the shortest mantra, "Aum" or "Oom", in Islamic belief it can be understood as "Allah". It is essential that where a ron dha is cut into a greneng, that ron dha should be cut to the form that applied in the time and place from which the keris originates. This is particularly so with keris that have a regal association. In recent keris this cultural tradition has become diluted, and sometimes a craftsman will produce a keris as a work of art, rather than a keris that can be accepted as culturally correct. This concept of "art for arts sake" is something that has only recently arisen in the World of the Keris.

It is very unusual for any keris that bears kinatah on the sides of the gonjo to be kept in a scabbard that will abrade the gold work every time the blade is removed from & replaced in the scabbard. Metal surrounding the scabbard mouth will damage gold work on a gonjo's sides very, very quickly.

In any case, even if a blade with kinatah is kept in a scabbard made of one of the softer woods, say, something like sandalwood, that kinatah will be gradually worn away, even with the very highest degree of care. This is the reason that when we describe an old keris with kinatah work, we normally provide a percentage estimate of the remaining kinatah work.

The "tunggak semi" hilt came into existence with the partition of Jawa in 1755. Its forerunner was a planar hilt developed in the Court of Demak which existed for less than 100 years, from about 1475 to 1554. Very early keris hilts were usually in the form of demons, deities & ancestor figures.

In Solo there used to be a very highly respected authority on Javanese art, he was most particularly interested in the keris, and he had an international reputation. He had very close links with both the Surakarta Karaton & with the President & Government of Indonesia. During the 1960's, & through into the 1990's this man was regarded as the font of all knowledge relating to the keris. He was the ultimate in experts. He was very well known in the Javanese dealer community as a ready buyer of quality keris & other quality tosan aji.

Within the Javanese dealer community there was a small group of craftsmen, artisans and dealers who focussed on producing very high quality keris of very unusual types, often types that had never previously existed, when it came time to sell these immaculate productions of fantasy, the prime target of these less than traditional keris was almost invariably the man mentioned in the previous paragraph. He was well known for paying very well for any quality keris of a form or type that he had never previously encountered.

One of the deceptive practices of Javanese dealers, & perhaps some other dealers, is to mate old, damaged scabbards to much more recent blades. There are a number of ways in which this can be done, including the making of a blade specifically to fit an existing scabbard. This practice can sometimes be a genuine reuse of an existing scabbard, especially where the scabbard is collectable or valuable in its own right, or where a man can afford a new keris, but not new dress for it. However, where a high value item is being produced for sale into the collector market, it becomes worthwhile for the fraudster to pull out all stops and produce something that will deceive even experts.

Am I cynical?

Yes.

[Green]

Alan;

i guess you're not terribly impressed with this keris to warrant such a high price. i'm curious why the buyer is so interested in this keris. what did he see that others don't?

[A. G. Maisey]

I have no idea Green, but one thing I do know about auctions is that sometimes what you see in reported sales is not necessarily the whole story.

Then there is the influence of an auction house description, & the inescapable fact that not a real lot of people have a solid understanding of the keris.

As I said in my initial post to this thread, I really do not want to comment on this keris, I just don't want to upset anybody, there are no pluses in that.

I've possibly already said too much, but I feel that if I can help others see things as I see them, it is perhaps a good thing.

[HughChen]

Originally Posted by David

I thought that it would be good to place more photos of this keris here for our archives. Also i am posting photos of a Bali/Lombok keris that also achieved quite a high price at auction as well, €42,000. Buyers in this auction also pay 25% premiums on top of gavel prices plus tax, so at the end of the day even more was spent on these two keris.

Thank you for your showing of the €42,000 one. The blade seems much shorter than the scabbard. Does it indicate a wrong match or the blade had been repired before? Does anyone have some comments on this one?

[jagabuwana]

Alright, here's a crapshoot but here goes.

The greneng form here looks to me like a more overtly botanic version of the element mentioned in the thread "Gustav's Discovery" - http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=22975.

This element was one that appeared in some keris older than 1700-ish.

If that's true, then for this element be repeated so many times on this keris without having a single conventional ron dha between them would make this keris an exceeding rarity, if not totally unique.

As Alan has suggested, the keris abides by conventions, especially during a historical period that was organised strictly along social status and the pervasiveness of religio-spiritual meaning.

It's hard to me to believe that this supposedly very old keris is so unique and breaks so many contemporaneous conventions.

Perhaps whoever made this wanted to make a point by including a greneng and ron dha nunut made up entirely of an element that only appeared in older keris (and even then only sparingly).

[David]

Originally Posted by HughChen

Thank you for your showing of the €42,000 one. The blade seems much shorter than the scabbard. Does it indicate a wrong match or the blade had been repired before? Does anyone have some comments on this one?

I could be wrong here, but my understanding if that keris in Bali are traditionally worn at the back so that the hilt rises up over the shoulder. In order to make wearing a keris in this manner practical it would be necessary for the dress to be a certain length regardless of the actual length of the blade. In my own collection i have a very short blade (by Bali standards) 13 inch blade in a sarung that is 21.5 inches long. It is very clear that the sarung was made specifically for this blade and equally clear that the blade has never been shortened. So it seems logical to my mind that the length of Balinese dress is more dictated by the manner in which the keris is worn in Bali than by the actual length of the blade.

[A. G. Maisey]

Not quite so David, Balinese keris can come in various lengths and various scabbard sizes, & when it is worn at the back, it is called "nyungklit", when worn at the waist it is "nyelet", when worn in front and slightly tilted it is called "nyote", when in hand and in defensive mode it is called "mukur".

When the culture police are patrolling during certain holy days, they invariably wear the keris as "nyote", ie, waist level, slightly tilted with the hilt towards the right hand.

When somebody is dressed for a formal occasion, they will usually wear the keris behind the shoulder when they are dressed in sarung, but if dressed with a jacket they normally carry the keris in their hand, &when it becomes necessary to have both hands free, they usually stick it into the setagen (waist sash) as a sort of cross between nyelet & nyungklit.

I have a few old --- in one case very old --- Balinese keris that are in smaller dress that would be quite impossible to wear at the back with the hilt rising behind the shoulder.

But putting all that to one side, yes, it is completely possible for a short keris to be dressed in a sarung that will permit it to be worn as nyungklit.

[Wijaya34]

Here is a video of a similar-ish keris attributed to Sunan Gunung Jati, currently in the possession of pangeran Raja Goemelar, the uncle of the current sultan sepuh.. Any thoughts?

https://youtu.be/1oumS4EPAuA - starts at 9:30

[David]

Originally Posted by Wijaya34

Here is a video of a similar-ish keris attributed to Sunan Gunung Jati, currently in the possession of pangeran Raja Goemelar, the uncle of the current sultan sepuh.. Any thoughts?

https://youtu.be/1oumS4EPAuA - starts at 9:30

Do you mean this keris. It is the one they show beginning at 9:30.
I don't see that much that is similar really. Completely different gandik (this one is nogo), different style greneng, a gonjo wulit, different style of kinatah application. This does have kinatah on the sides of the gonjo in a sheath that might well abade it when placing the blade in and out of the sheath. I do suspect, however that this dress in relatively recent, while the dress in the Czerny keris is claimed to be original. Also, though relatively plain in design i am not sure we can call this a form of "tunggak semi" hilt as the Czerny keris is stated to be. I believe i see more differences than likes between these two keris.

[David]

Thank you Alan for your tactful exploration on this topic even is it is not specific to the keris at hand.
I wonder if anyone noticed the three (possibly four) fleur-de-lys in the kinatah on the top of this keris. What place would a fleur-de-lys have on court keris from either Jawa or Sumatra?

[A. G. Maisey]

David, I did notice one piece of ornamentation that I thought might be a fleur-de-lys, but I did not think about it. In the late colonial era in Jawa, & until the present day, European based motifs are common in Jawa ornamentation, two that readily come to mind are grapes (sekar anggur), roses (sekar mawar).

To the best of my knowledge, we do not find this sort of European influence in earlier eras.

Pakubuwana X was very much attracted to European art & designs, & I think that perhaps European influence might have weighed heavily on PB IX's decisions also.

We can sometimes use art motifs to help indicate probable time of production of an artefact.

[HughChen]

Are them the most expensive keris sold recently (like within a year) in online auction house?
Do we have more other thread discuss about expensive auction results? I'm quite interested in them.