A keraton (?) keris in east javanese dress, where is the blade from?

A. G. Maisey · 25th November 2024, 07:09 PM

David, I have not seen this FB video.

I do not do FB, I was very briefly a member, then FB became too intrusive, and I was unable to see any plus factors at all in continuing with FB, I cannot look at FB content.

What I said about Sumatera was:-

"The hilt & selut has the feeling of Sumatera, not Jawa."

I've never seen something like this from Sumatera either, but the selut is quite similar to some Sumatran seluts and the hilt itself has echoes of some Sumatran hilts. The fluting on the hilt I cannot recall having seen anywhere.

Yes, it does appear to have some age, but false patina & a bit of dirt is not at all difficult to produce. To my eye, the carving of the hilt, although very competent, does not flow, it looks stiff.

The operative word in all my posts to this thread is "feeling".

I am not stating opinions, I'm looking at pictures and I am not feeling anything I can associate with Jawa, but I am feeling that all the parts of this complete keris are from different origins.

The hilt is a problem, so if I run through all of the possibilities I cannot recall anything quite like this that I have ever come across, not a picture in a book, not online, not in a museum collection, not in a private collection, not with a dealer, & not amongst the 800 or so hilts that I have myself. And this hilt is well carved. Surely there must be something similar around somewhere? But I have yet to see it.

As I have said:- feeling, not opinion.

I am absolutely open to being shown that this complete keris genuinely old & definitely from a single --- or even multiple --- geographic points of origin.

25th November 2024, 07:09 PM	#12
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,015	David, I have not seen this FB video. I do not do FB, I was very briefly a member, then FB became too intrusive, and I was unable to see any plus factors at all in continuing with FB, I cannot look at FB content. What I said about Sumatera was:- "The hilt & selut has the feeling of Sumatera, not Jawa." I've never seen something like this from Sumatera either, but the selut is quite similar to some Sumatran seluts and the hilt itself has echoes of some Sumatran hilts. The fluting on the hilt I cannot recall having seen anywhere. Yes, it does appear to have some age, but false patina & a bit of dirt is not at all difficult to produce. To my eye, the carving of the hilt, although very competent, does not flow, it looks stiff. The operative word in all my posts to this thread is "feeling". I am not stating opinions, I'm looking at pictures and I am not feeling anything I can associate with Jawa, but I am feeling that all the parts of this complete keris are from different origins. The hilt is a problem, so if I run through all of the possibilities I cannot recall anything quite like this that I have ever come across, not a picture in a book, not online, not in a museum collection, not in a private collection, not with a dealer, & not amongst the 800 or so hilts that I have myself. And this hilt is well carved. Surely there must be something similar around somewhere? But I have yet to see it. As I have said:- feeling, not opinion. I am absolutely open to being shown that this complete keris genuinely old & definitely from a single --- or even multiple --- geographic points of origin.