First post: A Balinese Keris

A. G. Maisey · 18th January 2022, 09:33 PM

Milandro, the "meaning" of the ornamentation, I would take to be purely for the sake of ornamentation.

This is a reasonably modern scabbard & hilt, it is fairly pedestrian work, and from the photos it appears to be carved in relief before the sunggingan work was applied.

I cannot think of any Balinese use for this sort of dress, other than to make it more attractive for sale.

The blade is not really curved, rather, it is straight on one edge and has a very slight swelling on the other edge, which causes it to look as if it has a curve. If we look closely at the pamor on the side of the blade with the straight edge, we can see that the wengkon is missing.

In my opinion I feel that this blade probably had some damage to the straight edge side, maybe a couple of nicks, or perhaps a crack, this damage was cleaned up and in the process the edge became straight and part of the wengkon was lost.

In any case, it is an old keris, it is Balinese, it is reasonably attractive, and as a beginning part of a collection, it is not a bad acquisition.

18th January 2022, 09:33 PM	#9
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,056	Milandro, the "meaning" of the ornamentation, I would take to be purely for the sake of ornamentation. This is a reasonably modern scabbard & hilt, it is fairly pedestrian work, and from the photos it appears to be carved in relief before the sunggingan work was applied. I cannot think of any Balinese use for this sort of dress, other than to make it more attractive for sale. The blade is not really curved, rather, it is straight on one edge and has a very slight swelling on the other edge, which causes it to look as if it has a curve. If we look closely at the pamor on the side of the blade with the straight edge, we can see that the wengkon is missing. In my opinion I feel that this blade probably had some damage to the straight edge side, maybe a couple of nicks, or perhaps a crack, this damage was cleaned up and in the process the edge became straight and part of the wengkon was lost. In any case, it is an old keris, it is Balinese, it is reasonably attractive, and as a beginning part of a collection, it is not a bad acquisition.