old ivory hilt for share

[asomotif]

I like the hilt-cup. nice work.

But the hilt... not my cup of tea.
no expression in the face, strange pose and arms seem out of proportion.
I cannot imagine this being old or indiginous.

[David]

She reminds me a little of the mermaid from the Copenhagen harbor with just a tad more modesty.

[T. Koch]

I also must confess that the figure itself doesn't really do anything for me. That being said, I do very much like the color as well as the patina of the ivory - particularly on the head.

The overall shape of the hilt, as well as the laminations visible on the sides, makes me think it's carved from some kind of whale tooth.

Thanks very much for sharing!


- Thor

[David]

I also thought this ivory was marine in origin Thor. As for the patina and color, it is so hard to tell age based on this as it is fairly easy to apply it to ivory from my experience.

[Battara]

Originally Posted by David

I also thought this ivory was marine in origin Thor. As for the patina and color, it is so hard to tell age based on this as it is fairly easy to apply it to ivory from my experience.

Sadly true, David. Makes it harder for us to determine true age.

On the other hand, I also love the selut.

[Ganja Iras]

hi guys ,

thank you very much for the comments and your opinion about this hilt.
here i give you more info about it...:
- material : marine ivory
- selut / mendak (in lombok we call it angkop ) : new made silver.

as a new in keris community ,i only know about that description for the hilt..
not about the age and figure .

thanks again....
kind regards ,

ganja iras

[T. Koch]

Thank you David - I think I have mistakenly used the word 'patina' here, in an inappropriate way. I didn't mean to imply it was due to significant age of the piece, I just wanted to refer to the darker areas under the chin, for instance. Would 'shade' or maybe 'glow' or something else be more correct?

English is not my native tongue, so I guess I'm sometimes prone to accidentally use words, unaware of their correct or full meanings. Sorry for the confusion!

Personally, I have a sweet spot for darker more "glowing" ivory. Either due to years of handling or tea-dying, it doesn't matter so much to me. Maybe it's because I see so much of the pearly white, modern touristy stuff at my work. I feel the same way about bone. Btw. if anybody has a reference to a description of tea-dying of these materials, I'd love to read about it?


All the best, - Thor

[David]

Originally Posted by T. Koch

Thank you David - I think I have mistakenly used the word 'patina' here, in an inappropriate way. I didn't mean to imply it was due to significant age of the piece, I just wanted to refer to the darker areas under the chin, for instance. Would 'shade' or maybe 'glow' or something else be more correct?

No Thor, patina is patina and i would definitely say this piece has some. But here it seems to have been applied more quickly for effect than allowed to develop of a long period of handling use. There are ways to do this along with staining the ivory for color to give the over all impression of age.