Balinese Keris hilt ID

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Maybe Bayu, may not be Bayu. I simply do not know for certain, so I reserve my opinion.

Actually, the way I read your initial post, you are saying pretty much the same thing:-

"--- many might describe him as Bayu ---"

Here is another of the same form.

Indeed you are correct Alan, i was taking this approach simply because i simply do not possess any solid evidence myself that allows me to describe this character as Bayu with any sense of certainty. However, that said it is clear that this particular fellow has been identified by at least a segment of the keris collecting world as Bayu for some time. Why? It is also clear that the hilts that are IDed as Bayu all share the same indicators that i mentioned before in their form so it does seem most likely that all these hilts, Marius' example, my example and your exceptional example are indeed all intended to depict the same character. I kind of felt that your approach at this point is to throw up your hands and count this as an unsolvable mystery where as my thought is that perhaps through continued inquery we might eventually be able to come to terms with the question. I am curious, for instance, when this hilt style may have first been identified as Bayu and what reasoning that person may have had for making that assessment. Dies anybody have a clue? As i have already stated, there are indeed quite a number of indicators in the form of these hilts that repeat again and again in each example. The fan in the right hand, the mudra sign on the left hand, the jeweled crown, even the garments the figure wears are pretty much the same in each and every one of the example of this hilt that i have seen. So i don't think we can look at Marius' hilt and say that it does not follow a traditional pattern of some sort simply because it is a recently made hilt. It follows the same pattern as the others before it. I remain fairly convinced that whoever this figure is he is supposed to be a particular representation that is clearly the same in all these examples. It is, of course, possible that we might never get to the bottom of this, but i don't think we should completely drop the inquiry simple because Bapak Sutejo Neka chooses not to place a specific ID on this figure.