Palembang handle and selut

[KLUNGKLUNG]

Dear all,

I have had the opportunity to purchase this small handsome Jawa Demam Palembang ukiran from ivory. This delicately shaped handle shows organic, roundings and 'true' birds eyes.
What puzzles me is the 'akik' stone on top of the head. It is encrusted in silver but not meant as a cover-up for a damaged peksi hole ( which has happened but more below). But I can't exclude another damage for which this application with semi-precious stones is done? Any explanation for it or just for decoration?
The selut did not come along but I have put them together which might not be matching but where does it come from?

[ganjawulung]

Dear Klungkung,

Old and nice carving of old Sumatran keris hilt. But the possibility is not Palembang, but perhaps between West Sumatra or Riau, Jambi. The material is elephant ivory, or "sea ivory"?

I have some examples of Sumatran Jawa Demam hilt. Palembang "pendokok" is very typical Palembang. Here are examples of my Palembang keris hilt. One made of old ivory, and the other is wooden hilt.

Ganjawulung

[Gustav]

Here a "cousin" of it - I also doubt, these quite small hilts would come directly from Palembang. My guess was the "upper class" of a Minang population close to Palembang.

[Sajen]

Dear Klungkung,

your very nice handle could be Palembang or Minangkabau and maybe also Jambi. The stone is most proable a jimat but I think that the stone cover the natural nerv crevise of the material which I guess to be sperm whale tooth.
Look for example this hilt from my collection where you can see this "nerv crevise" uncovered.

Regards,
Detlef

PS: Forget: The pendokok is IMHO a Minangkabau pendokok.

[ganjawulung]

Hopefully, my understanding is not wrong. To my knowledge, style of Palembang carving, its "cukitan" (I don't know the Palembang term of "cukitan", I use common terminology in keris) was not too deep. But fine. Even very subtle. In contrast to Madura, which its cukitan is usually deep. Just possibly, the equipment used to carve different. They use different types of knives. Also Java carving, usually deeper carved than Palembang...

Ganjawulung

[Jean]

Pak Ganja,
Is this small hilt with a fine & superficial carving but in a different style originating from Palembang in your opinion?
Best regards

[kai]

Hello Carla,

What puzzles me is the 'akik' stone on top of the head. It is encrusted in silver but not meant as a cover-up for a damaged peksi hole ( which has happened but more below). But I can't exclude another damage for which this application with semi-precious stones is done? Any explanation for it or just for decoration?

I'm sure it's not an original decoration. If (smaller) stones are inserted, these don't break the flow of lines. There are a few bits of the carving broken off a long time ago and I guess that this later addition is to cover more extensive damage to the top of the hilt.

I'm with the others that this is a Minang hilt with quite typical carving work. This type of hilt often comes with a cup-shaped selut and slender stem. Your Minang selut might also do for the time being.

Regards,
Kai