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#1 |
Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Vienna
Posts: 17
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Hi!
Like to ask you about this as I think mixed Keris with a Bali blade and a Java janggelan Hilt. Would be interested where from the silver mounted Warangka could be, style is unknown to me (Sumatra?). Thank you! |
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#2 |
Keris forum moderator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 7,098
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I was hoping someone else mighty have some answers for you by now, but i'll add my own observations for what they are worth. This does indeed seem to be a very mixed bag of cultural styles and i would only be guessing at how or why they came together. The sheath itself seems to be a bit of an enigma in and of itself. It is not expertly carved and does not seem to quite fit into styles i am familiar with. But sheaths do sometimes get carved by the people less skilled and knowledgeable of styles and often do not quite fit or hit the mold or model their maker was aiming for. The designs on the bands do not look like anything i have seen that i could say are traditional to Sumatra (or Madura or Bali).
The janggelan hilt could be East Jawa or Madura. They are technically the same, but not from elsewhere in Jawa. Same for the mendak i believe. The blade does indeed seem to be in the style of Bali, but it raises questions for me. The wear on the blade is oddly uneven. It has very sharp features at the lambe gajah, greneng and front edge of the pejetan, but there is much greater deterioration along the blade's edge, especially towards the tip. What would cause such uneven erosion on a blade such as this? There is also that diagonal feature near the tip of the gonjo which i don't believe i've seen on Bali keris before. So i wonder if this is not of more recent, perhaps Madurese, manufacture and artificially aged. ![]() |
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#3 |
Member
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 6,853
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I'm pretty much with David on this keris. In short:- I do not know with any certainty where it originated.
Comments on component parts:- Hilt:- East Jawa/ Madura Mendak:- East Jawa/Madura Gambar:- not the work of a tukang wrongko --- incorrect grain orientation; stylistically it can be associated with Tegal and with Lombok. Absolutely no idea where it was made. Silver (?) work on scabbard is outside keris tradition but stylistically perhaps Sumatera or Peninsula Blade is stylistically Bali. In respect of the pattern of blade corrosion. This raises no questions at all with me. The edges of the blade are steel, where this steel is hardened the corrosion pattern will accelerate, what I believe I can see in these edges is a typical pattern. The body of the blade is iron + nickel, this corrodes much more slowly than heat treated steel, I expect to see a different and much milder corrosion pattern in these areas. Keris blades are normally only heat treated for a part of the way up the blade, this is a design feature used to prevent breakage, the keris is used to thrust, the cut is secondary, so only the tip of the blade needs to be hardened. In a Javanese blade the furthest up the blade the hardening goes is the tip of the sogokan, or its equivalent position where there is no sogokan; in many areas only the first couple of inches of the blade are hardened. The blade only I think could originate from Klungkung, Kusamba, pre-puputan. My guess, I emphasise "guess", is that this is a dealer's montage, very possibly put together in Singapore. |
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#4 | |
Keris forum moderator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 7,098
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I am still confused by the diagonally incised line near the front of the gonjo. Not a feature i can say i have seen on Bali keris. Do you have some experience with seeing this feature before? |
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#5 |
Member
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 6,853
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David, I am very certain about my comments on corrosion patterns, but re the line on the gonjo I cannot comment. For me, what places this as a pre-puputan, probably Klungkung blade is the fact that the keris made by the ancestors of Empu Mangku Pande Made Wija were known for nearly always having pudak setegal, whilst in other Bali blades it is a seldom seen feature. Also in blades of his line the kembang kacang was known for complete (robyong) detail.
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#6 | |
Keris forum moderator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 7,098
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