Old Tajung Keris(es?)

[kayoba84]

Good day all. I would like to share a few pics of old Tajong hilts and keris(es? is there such a word for plural of keris?)

These are part of a larger collection and have been kept for 20 - 30 years, gathered from various South Siam locations.

Enjoy.

[Jean]

Impressive collection, thanks! I love the hilts especially.
Regards

[Gavin Nugent]

These are nice Keris, I've a few here myself . Thanks for sharing.

Question, why the Bugis Pendokok? I am aware of a similar Patani pendokok from my own collections (but not found on Tajong), but I do not see this design amongst these?

Perhaps you can tell us more about the design elements of each province that makes these keris so interesting? Perhaps some or all have a long well established regional provenance which reflects in the carvings?

Gavin

[A. G. Maisey]

Pretty impressive.

In Indonesian and Malay the plural of 'keris' is "keris-keris", or in the old form "keris2".

But we're using English here so I reckon "kerises" is just fine.

[Marcokeris]

NICE collection !!

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

In Indonesian and Malay the plural of 'keris' is "keris-keris", or in the old form "keris2".

But we're using English here so I reckon "kerises" is just fine.

I think Alan is probably correct here since he knows much more about Indonesian languages than i do, but in English i have always just used "keris" as the plural of keris much the same way that moose, sheep or shrimp are the same both singularly and plural.
A fine collection of keris tajong indeed. Never found the right one at the right price and since they are a bit outside my usual interest in keris other thing have taken priority. It does seem to me that the focus of interest for those who collect these is far more directed on the dress (specifically the hilts) than the blades themselves.

[Jean]

Originally Posted by David

I think Alan is probably correct here since he knows much more about Indonesian languages than i do, but in English i have always just used "keris" as the plural of keris much the same way that moose, sheep or shrimp are the same both singularly and plural.

I can't check my reference books for now but I seem to have read "krisses" as the plural of "kris" in many books written in English such as those from Frey and Van Duuren?
Regards

[Gavin Nugent]

Originally Posted by David

It does seem to me that the focus of interest for those who collect these is far more directed on the dress (specifically the hilts) than the blades themselves.

By large I agree David, but the blades, although not a pamor type which is so often the allure of a good keris, the blades from this region are often so very interesting and extremely well constructed with beautiful "lava" like crucible steel cores, well defined differential steel edges and an array of differential heat treating throughout.

In the proper finish, they can look quite spectacular.

Gavin

[Laowang]

Originally Posted by David

It does seem to me that the focus of interest for those who collect these is far more directed on the dress (specifically the hilts) than the blades themselves.

According to contemporary Peninsular & Singaporean collectors, a tajong is defined by the dress (both hilt and sheath), so in the absence of proper dress, it isn't a tajong, but rather a pandai saras blade, or a carita blade, or whatever.

I agree with Gavin that in general the blades dressed as tajong are of generally good quality, unlike the middling to poor quality blades that are often found in coteng dress. Peninsular blades lack contrasting pamor, but they are typically well-forged, with good detail work. It's not uncommon to find a better quality carita blade in tajong dress.

Thanks for posting these images, kyoba84, I'm deeply envious of your collection.

[kayoba84]

Originally Posted by Gavin Nugent

These are nice Keris, I've a few here myself . Thanks for sharing.

Question, why the Bugis Pendokok? I am aware of a similar Patani pendokok from my own collections (but not found on Tajong), but I do not see this design amongst these?

Perhaps you can tell us more about the design elements of each province that makes these keris so interesting? Perhaps some or all have a long well established regional provenance which reflects in the carvings?

Gavin

Gavin, I believe those shown are more of Patani pendokok rather than Bugis. I do not have the depth of knowledge to provide details on the different design elements of different provinces. But from my limited knowledge, the tajongs are more commonly adorned with "teming",( Kelantanese/ Pattani word - which is sort of molded to the base of the Tajong hilt, usually made of silver, brass, or suasa , as per attached pics), than pendokok. I may not be fully accurate on this though.

[Gavin Nugent]

Thanks for this insight kayoba84.

Teming is not something I am familiar with, I've only ever seen the simple tajong cup form noted at pendokok in line with the name for other types from the Malay region.
I hope a more learned Keris forum member can chime in about the name Teming.

Gavin

[Gustav]

The Pendokok of Tajong was a bipartite construction, consisting of Teming (one of Tajong kayoba84 show has a proper Teming) and a hilt cup. If we see a suassa Teming, we can be sure hilt cup was made of equally valuable material, and in most cases has been sold, pawned... or whatever. Somewhere on forum there is a picture of such hilt cup in a Malayan museum (or ACM?). A museum in Basel owns one complete ensemble, the best Tajong ever.

Becouse of the loss of hilt cup the Tajong hilt (with or without Teming) sits to low on Pesi.

The second example kayoba84 shows us in his last post is quite typical hilt cup from Terengganu, yet with slightly elongated proportions. I doubt though, it was originally intended to be a hilt cup for this Tajong (which had a Teming in his past). The rest are Malayan Bugis style Pendokok, not intended for Tajong, and one specimen, which could be a younger version of Tajong hilt cup. Difficult to judge from the picture.