Keris Malela Unduk Unduk

A. G. Maisey · 27th June 2017, 12:22 AM

I agree with you David, it is not about those sea-horse things, but it is about keris, and I doubt that Alexish is sufficiently advanced in keris knowledge to discern the fine variations in varying forms of keris. To an uneducated eye there is sufficient similarity in the ornamentation of the sorsoran in Gustav's sea-horse and Alexish's kemardikan to consider both are of a type.

As for ricikan in Alexish's keris being non-Javanese, well, the rules changed when the Jakarta Boys decided that we now had a legitimate name for current era keris. The new tangguh was Kemardikan. These days just about anything goes, it is art in the form of a keris, and Alexish's keris is pure kemardikan, it makes no pretense to be anything else, thus it does not need to conform to tangguh parameters set down in earlier times.

My preference would be for a good quality SW wrongko simply because it is a blade that should be appreciated for its own sake, not because it is part of a sociological phenomenon, and I would choose a Jawa Timur SW because they tend to be a bit more decorative than the Jawa Tengah ones, which would permit the top of the wrongko to follow the top of the gonjo. In any case, this kemardikan blade comes from Jawa Timur.

But if you reckon its too far off-topic to be here, why not open a new thread for it and shift it?

27th June 2017, 12:22 AM	#10
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,013	I agree with you David, it is not about those sea-horse things, but it is about keris, and I doubt that Alexish is sufficiently advanced in keris knowledge to discern the fine variations in varying forms of keris. To an uneducated eye there is sufficient similarity in the ornamentation of the sorsoran in Gustav's sea-horse and Alexish's kemardikan to consider both are of a type. As for ricikan in Alexish's keris being non-Javanese, well, the rules changed when the Jakarta Boys decided that we now had a legitimate name for current era keris. The new tangguh was Kemardikan. These days just about anything goes, it is art in the form of a keris, and Alexish's keris is pure kemardikan, it makes no pretense to be anything else, thus it does not need to conform to tangguh parameters set down in earlier times. My preference would be for a good quality SW wrongko simply because it is a blade that should be appreciated for its own sake, not because it is part of a sociological phenomenon, and I would choose a Jawa Timur SW because they tend to be a bit more decorative than the Jawa Tengah ones, which would permit the top of the wrongko to follow the top of the gonjo. In any case, this kemardikan blade comes from Jawa Timur. But if you reckon its too far off-topic to be here, why not open a new thread for it and shift it?