Ceremonial moro keris? Comment needed!

[philkid]

Hi forumites, here is a recent acquisition. need comment on this. Is it a ceremonial keris? Thanks.

[philkid]

by the way, the kris measures 31.25in. while the blade alone is 25.6in. gangya is 5.7in.

[zamboanga]

wow. malingkat! (beautiful).

exquisite okir. nice.

[kino]

Kanindut ka-ayo, uy. (very nice)

[ibeam]

Maganda talaga (truely a beautiful piece)

Do you have any translation on the inscription on the sampir (scabbard mouth) ??

[philkid]

Thanks for the comment guys. Swerte lang(just got lucky). I do not know what the inscripition says, that is one of the reasons why I posted it here. Anyone know how to read arabic? here is a picture of the back of the scabbard, it also has inscription. Any help in translating this would be greatly appreciated.

[Raja Muda]

The front part is Bismillahi rahmani rahim (In the name of God, most Gracious, most Merciful) and the one on the back is Allahu Akbar (God is great).
Truly a beautiful kris, with the kind of fullered blade Malays usually esteem in a sundang. Don't mind owning one myself

[nechesh]

Hey Philkid. Yes, certainly a beautiful kris, though so far no one has addressed your question. I'm not exactly sure what you mean when you ask, is this a ceremonial kris. To me, it appears that this kris was probably owned by a person of high standing, perhaps a datu. In that respect i would say that it is not a common battle kris and may have never taken any blood. Does that mean it is ceremonial. IMO, not necessarily. I suppose i consider a blade to be ceremonial when it is conceived to serve purely that function. I don't think that datus had to do the actual fighting all that often, but i don't think that makes their weapons purely ceremonial. And if personally attacked he would probably draw it and defend himself. There are certain weapons, such as the Indonesian keris sajen which are purely of a ceremonial function. This kris looks far too "fully" functional for that designation.

[rahman]

The calligraphic style on "Bismillahi rahmani rahim (In the name of God, most Gracious, most Merciful)" is standard Arabic, but the one for "Allahu Akbar (God is great)" probably has strong local Moro influence. It's a very interesting rendition. They were obviously inscribed separately by two different people and probably at two different times.

I like the mother of pearl inlay on the sampir... we don't see much of that.

[philkid]

Hi Rahman and Nechesh, thanks for the info you shared. Actually the inlay on the sampir is made from silver not MOP. I agree with you Nechesh that this is a fully functional battle kris since it handles pretty well and the blade is just pretty much made for battle. Do some of other forum members have a sword similar to this one? Kindly share pictures? Thanks.

[Battara]

Very Impressive puppy (woof! ). To answer your question, in Cato's words, yes it is ceremonial. My other thoughts are that it may be Maguindanao, and that it looks like it is a low silver-white brass metal with brass? It is posible that the yellow metal may be swaasa, but not sure by the picture color. Bands on the scabbard are most likely white brass. Only testing the metal at a jewelry store (or me ) would you be able to know for sure. Are these 1920s fittings on a late 1800s blade? Nice catch no matter what. Also, again according to Cato (and Moro culture before the 1920s) datu and sultan metal blades were functional, even if only for status or ceremonial.

[philkid]

Hi Battara my thoughts exactly, this kris is Maguindanaoan due to its long heavy blade. The pommel is made from silver. The yellow metal seems gold to me but I haven't seen swaasa before. Can you elaborate the qualities of a swaasa?

[zelbone]

Actually, the blade looks more Maranao to me as well as the rest of the kris...scabbard, hilt, etc...

Here's a pic of two Maranao krises of mine. The one on the left has a kakatua made of brass and silver. It's kind of beat-up and not as ornate as yours. The hilt is wrapped in cord and covered with pitch.

[Battara]

The Maguindanao also had heavy blades. What moves it more in that direction for me than Maranao are the fittings. Filigree and woven silver are more of a Sulu style/expertise and good chased okir work more of a Maranao style/expertise. According to Cato, there was an influence of Sulu style that could be seen in Maguindanao and not so much on Maranao. The mixing of the two influences is more of a Maguindanao trait. These are the reasons I lean toward Maguindanao.

On the swaasa question, swaasa is a mixture of gold and other metals to attain different colors. This was not only used in the Philippines, but also in Indonesia and Malaysia. The most common metals mixed with gold were copper and silver. Most of the swaasa that I have seen (and with a friend made) is made with a larger portion of copper and smaller amount of gold. This combonation creates an orange color to the metal at a roughly 7-9 karat gold. A second semi-common form I have seen has a larger amount of silver and lesser amount of gold (same karat) and this changes the color to a bleached gold look. The orange variety was probably more affordable to make, though still quite expensive. I was wondering if the band on top of the pommel is gold layer over silver, brass, or swaasa in a variation of the orange color.

Below is a picture of a Maguindanao kris I got in eBay years ago made with ivory, silver, and swaasa done in okir design. It is my avatar, but I thought the larger picture would be easier to see (and much more delightful ). The swaasa is the orange colored okir bands on the hilt. On the pictures of the whole thing, the slender bands are the swaasa that a friend and I made to match those on the hilt (this was the second scabbard I made from scratch, including the okir silver band work).

[Battara]

By the way, Zelbone, I like the Maguindanao kris on the left - it has beautiful silver okir inlay on the blade.

[philkid]

Hi Zelbone, thanks for posting your swords. I have a blade similar to your sword, the one without the silver inlay. Will be selling it next week on ebay.

Battara I think the one I have is not swaasa since the color to me seems more of gold than orange. But I doubt this is pure gold though.The band on top of the pommel is also gold.

[Battara]

I would not be surprised if your bands are of a 9.5-10k gold. This has a little more of a yellow-slight orange look compared to 14-22k (and much more affordable and durable). Beautiful okir work in any case. It is also possible that at this end of the karat scale that some tiny amount of patina on the surface has discolored the metal a little. At this end of the karat scale, a slight bit of patina can accrue over the surface. Shine it up and it might change the color a little to truer gold. Polishing up the silver and gold only increases the value (although the true value is in the piece and not in the metals per say). Again, the only way to know for sure is to test the metal chemically.

[philkid]

Thanks. Will do that. By the way, what can I use to polish silver? When did the Moro's learn how to use gold plating?

[Battara]

Polishing - one can get a jeweler's "sunshine cloth" from a jewelry store (at least here in the US).

Gold plating - not real plating, but as Cato uses the word. Here is why I hesitate to call it plating. Plating is a 20c invention that places a thin gold film of only a few microns on a surface (thus plating is going out of style in many jewelry stores here in the US). The layers of precious metals Moros used were an actual layer (32 gauge) of material fused to a base metal like brass or copper (more commonly). This is what Cato is really refering to in his book, though I take issue with the term he uses. Again, this was mainly used by the Maguindanao and Maranao. I have actually measured this in the Maranao and Maguindanao pieces I have. The technology is not that difficult because it took only a furnace (or bellows) to heat up the materials together to a point where they would start to fuse before melting. However, this would take precise control and experience. This technique is still used today around the world. "Gold filled" is the closest commercial equivelant in that a thin layer of gold is fused to a base metal of brass. The brass is thicker than the gold, but the gold is much thicker than a film a few microns thin, and that is why it wears much better. The Moro/Indonesian/Malay fusing of precious metal is thicker still, and is more economical than solid thin bands of pure metal. My kris that I posted has the swaasa bands of 32-30 gauge bonded (fused) to a thicker base of copper.

By the way, I just found this picture of a kris hilt with what I believe to be swaasa (slightly different % of gold and copper) that closer matches your piece. It was posted from a fellow formite from the Museo Nacional Antropologia Madrid in Spain.

It is also interesting that we are posting at the same time, especially since it is day where you are at and I am right now on 3rd shift.

[Federico]

I will note this, while perhaps not in his book, Bob Cato did note that high end Sulu pieces would often feature Maranao fittings, and that there was more connection between Maranao/Sulu kris vs Maguindanao/Sulu kris.

I agree with Zel, this blade has a more Maranao feel to me, at least if we are going by Cato. The trunk has the classic Maranao bulge that is the key feature in his trunk theory for Maranao blades. Also, to me the socketing work and lavish okir work strikes me more as a Maranao style, particularly compared to modern Maranao work, which I sometimes see in nice Sulu fittings as well. Whereas my Maguindanao kris with metal fittings have a more subdued okir style.

Anyways, on a historical level, the connection between Maguindanao and Sulu, during the turn of the 20th century would not be the greatest. One problem I have always had with the trunk theory, is that lumping Maguindanao as one big group takes no accounting of the separation between up-river Buayan Maguindanao (such as Datu Uto who resisted the Spanish to the end) and down river Cotabato Maguindanao (who capitulated to the Spanish). Some authors, such as Ileto, notes the differences between the two groups, by this time, were so great that they could be in some cases be considered two different peoples. Anyways, at this time period the Buayan Sultanate still had strong relations with other Moro groups, not to mention was in far better shape than the Cotabato Sultanate.

Very nice Kris by the way

[Battara]

Thank you Federico for that note - did not know that about high end Sulu pieces sporting Maranao fittings.

I guess you're a late nighter as well.

[Federico]

Originally Posted by Battara

Thank you Federico for that note - did not know that about high end Sulu pieces sporting Maranao fittings.

Now Im not saying that high end Sulu pieces sport Maranao fittings, Im just saying, if we are going by Bob's research then it is a possibility.

My own guess is that "High End" Sulu fittings that are Sulu made were more likely Iranun vs Maranao (more contact and the Iranun are noted by Warren as having brought big advances in Sulu swords and particularly in the context of the 19th century Iranun sailors often worked in tandem with Sulu missions). Then again how do we distinguish Iranun styles of kris? Was their relationship to the Maranao such that they would be similar (depending on whose origin theory for the Iranun and Maranao you buy are they the same group differentiated by land, or even are all the Mindanao groups truly just variations of eachother, etc...)?

[Federico]

Originally Posted by Battara

I guess you're a late nighter as well.

Somedays it just seems like I never sleep Though hopefully will be able to lose some the adrenalline left over from the dojo in a little bit.