27th April 2017, 07:19 AM | #1 |
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Old Tajung Keris(es?)
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. |
27th April 2017, 09:36 PM | #2 |
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Impressive collection, thanks! I love the hilts especially.
Regards |
28th April 2017, 12:54 AM | #3 |
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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 |
28th April 2017, 01:29 AM | #4 |
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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. Last edited by A. G. Maisey; 28th April 2017 at 05:23 AM. |
28th April 2017, 04:11 PM | #5 |
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NICE collection !!
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28th April 2017, 05:07 PM | #6 | |
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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. |
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28th April 2017, 08:58 PM | #7 | |
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Regards |
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28th April 2017, 09:17 PM | #8 | |
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28th April 2017, 11:40 PM | #9 |
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Actually David, I use "keris" as the plural form also. I probably should use "kris" as the correct English spelling, but I'd sooner not. However, as Jean has said, a lot of keris-literate writers in English use "kerises" or "krises". In any case, we can always get around the problem with sentence construction.
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29th April 2017, 05:03 AM | #10 |
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1 keris, 2 keris, 3 keris more, look at all those keris....keris it is....
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29th April 2017, 05:57 AM | #11 |
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One a Krissy, two a Krissy, three a Krissy, four
Krissy dressed in tight blue jeans, Knocking on my door. Come in little Krissy, Don't stand there in rain, I've had a Krissy once before And I'd like to once again. |
29th April 2017, 10:16 AM | #12 |
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A nice title and very educational book. I am following his steps....
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29th April 2017, 11:11 AM | #13 | |
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Gavin |
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29th April 2017, 12:09 PM | #14 |
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This is why I have come to love this keris warung kopi website so much.
I would not vote for the use of "krises" as a plural, because it comes too close to "crises". Especially when you pronounce the word as "creece", then you have a "crises" on your hands. |
2nd May 2017, 06:29 AM | #15 | |
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3rd May 2017, 10:59 AM | #16 |
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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 |
3rd May 2017, 01:00 PM | #17 |
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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. Last edited by Gustav; 3rd May 2017 at 03:09 PM. |
3rd May 2017, 11:38 PM | #18 |
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Gustav,
Thank you for the enlightenment in your post. If I understand the detail you have written and I use the image attached, the Teming is only the plain metal wrapping and the Pendokok is then the more decorative cover over the Teming? What is the reference citing this? I ask as 90% of my books are currently in storage and the best reference I have at hand being "Spirit of Wood" does not note this in the glossary of terms? With thanks Gavin |
3rd May 2017, 11:52 PM | #19 | |
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In the proper finish, they can look quite spectacular. Gavin |
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28th May 2017, 05:06 AM | #20 | |
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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. |
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28th May 2017, 05:09 AM | #21 |
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Tajong with a pandai saras blade, in the collection of the Asian Civilizations Museum.
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28th May 2017, 05:10 AM | #22 |
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Tajong with a carita blade, in the collection of the Asian Civilizations Museum.
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28th May 2017, 07:04 AM | #23 | |
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incidentally the a friend recently made a watercolor of the hilt you showed. I was wondering where he based his warercolor from !!! ... |
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28th May 2017, 01:04 PM | #24 | |
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Hello Nik,
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A pendokok seems to work well with a round buah pinang which is quite rare with tajong hilts; would you agree that tajong with slender/conical buah pinang look better with teming? The splendid Basel tajong hilt shown above does have a double construction of a simple cup (a bit different from the usual teming) and, apparently, a separate de luxe pendokok from gold... Any other antique high-end examples extant that exhibit complex hilt fittings? Regards, Kai |
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28th May 2017, 01:18 PM | #25 | |
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http://prpm.dbp.gov.my/Cari1?keyword=temin http://kbbi.web.id/temin To digress a bit. Recently collectors in Malaysia have started using the word "akuk" or "akut" (which does not appear in the dictionary) to refer to belalai gajah. I think this word is also pronounced according to the Malaysian east coast dialect. In my opinion the word is actually "angkup" (which is listed in the dictionary) where it refers to the shape of the belalai gajah that resembles a small picker. This instrument is however, modern. Probably in old Malay the word angkup was used to describe something that is shaped like a picker, or it means "closed" - "bertangkup" in Malay. Below is a picture of an angkup. |
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28th May 2017, 11:56 PM | #26 | |
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Thank you very much. |
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30th May 2017, 01:13 AM | #27 | |
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Hello Rasdan,
Thanks, that helps! Quote:
Regards, Kai |
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30th May 2017, 01:47 AM | #28 | |
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Hello Gustav,
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The cup style is close to a plain Sumatran selut/pendokok and without offering any structural support it won't really help to avoid splitting of the buah pinang. Arguably, the functional difference of a ferrule vs. cup may not be much of a consideration for the very high-end examples like the one in Basel since a splendid look may be much more important than function... Regards, Kai |
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30th May 2017, 12:16 PM | #29 |
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Thank you, Kai.
It seems to me we are looking at the same thing, Teming. In visible parts there is no difference, about the part hidden by hilt cup we can only speculate. Kayoba's Teming is a little bit elongated (for an example, which doesn't cover whole Buah Pinang). |
30th May 2017, 03:34 PM | #30 | |
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