Help me to appraise this Keris

[isumairuchiru]

David how you define quality made or material? As i am abit of struggling understanding the blade itself.

[David]

Originally Posted by isumairuchiru

David how you define quality made or material? As i am bait of struggling understanding the blade itself.

My first suggestion is just for you to look at a lot of keris. The differences in quality become more evident when you have something to compare. You are fortunate enough to live in a region where you should be able to find a fair amount of keris to look at in hand.That is the best way. O know of at least one good storefront for keris in Singapore and going in and handling and comparing them should be an informative experience. But simply searching for images either in our archives or through the open internet will give you a lot of photos of what different levels of keris quality look like. Understanding the subtleties of the keris form is a very long road, though quite a delightful journey IMO.
Frankly, the carving and shaping of the keris you have presented is rather crude and unskilled. This will become immediately evident once you put it side-by-side with even a medium quality example.

[Jean]

This type of kris with a sheath crosspiece in Balinese kekandikan style and brass pendok decorated with glass stones has been attributed to Bima (East Sumbawa) by some authors such as the late Martin Kerner. Some pieces have better blades than this one.....
Best regards

[David]

Originally Posted by Jean

This type of kris with a sheath crosspiece in Balinese kekandikan style and brass pendok decorated with glass stones has been attributed to Bima (East Sumbawa) by some authors such as the late Martin Kerner. Some pieces have better blades than this one.....
Best regards

I can understand why Kerner might suppose this as most of the time i have seen this sheath form there is a Bima hilt involved, though usually one of those really cheap looking Bima hilts that is probably late 20th century in origin. Can't say i've ever seen a nice looking blade in such an ensemble, but if you have such an example i would love to see it.

[A. G. Maisey]

This sort of keris was also put together during the 1960's through to late 1980's by people in Jogja. They were then sold in Bali and Jakarta, and undoubtedly a lot of other places.

[isumairuchiru]

Well this is getting interesting.

[Jean]

Originally Posted by David

I can understand why Kerner might suppose this as most of the time i have seen this sheath form there is a Bima hilt involved, though usually one of those really cheap looking Bima hilts that is probably late 20th century in origin. Can't say i've ever seen a nice looking blade in such an ensemble, but if you have such an example i would love to see it.

Yes, there could well be a confusion between the god Bima and the city Bima indeed . I will try to find and send a pic of such a kris which belonged to Martin. And Alan is probably right that these krisses originate from Java, I own a rather similar one but with a different design and decoration, see attached pic.
Regards

[David]

Originally Posted by Jean

I own a rather similar one but with a different design and decoration, see attached pic.

Sorry Jean, but i am having a hard time seeing any similarity between your ensemble and Isumairuchiru's other than the fact that both have some reproussé work on the sheath stem. Since reproussé work is prevalent on pendoks throughout the region i am afraid i do not see the purpose in the comparison.
Yours looks very nice btw.

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes David, chalk and cheese, but I think what Jean is trying to demonstrate is that on his the scabbard was definitely made in Jogja, not only is the embossing very probably Jogja, but they've even used a Jogja motif.