Balinese Keris Exhibition in Hollenstedt, Germany

[David]

Thanks for the heads up. Too far away for me as well i'm afraid.

[A. G. Maisey]

There is a book with the same title.

If anybody has read it, I'd be interested in an outline of the contents.

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

There is a book with the same title.

If anybody has read it, I'd be interested in an outline of the contents.

It looks like the book is simply a catalog of the exhibition.

[A. G. Maisey]

Yeah, it could well be, but at E65 and with these two names attached to it, I would expect some text of substance.

Garret's "World of ---" was only a cat. too, but it remains probably the best single work on the Javanese Keris.

[David]

Perhaps. But unless i'm reading wrong it looks like it has 150 illustrations on 138 pages, so unless the illustrations are particularly small it doesn't seem to leave much room for text.

[A. G. Maisey]

Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

Another book of pretty pics we can live without.

[asomotif]

Thanks for bringing this up.

If these are old authentic keris, I would love to see them.
460 kms, probably much closer than most other forumites. But I am afraid I am not making the trip.

Pretty high price for the catalogue BTW.

Best regards,
Willem

[kai]

The exhibition is in the greater Hamburg area. So forumites visiting Hamburg should be able to make it!

Regards,
Kai

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by David

Perhaps. But unless i'm reading wrong it looks like it has 150 illustrations on 138 pages, so unless the illustrations are particularly small it doesn't seem to leave much room for text.

Hello David,

the book has two parts, the first part is meant as introduction for ethnograhic and cultural interested poeple to introduce them to the world of the keris and it's cultural background, who want to read here new insights should not acquire this book.
But we have here members who could be interested to get a first impression about the Bali keris who will get some useful informations and can have a look to some higher end Bali keris.
And yes, it's a cat. but with some very nice and exquisite Bali keris, which seems to my eyes very worth an exhibition, more as good photographed.
The text part takes the first 61 pages.

Not everyone have the ability to visit museums where he will see only a few keris or have had the good luck to handle and see some good Bali keris so books for a lot of people the only access to see such keris.

Regards,
Detlef

[David]

Originally Posted by Sajen

Hello David,

the book has two parts, the first part is meant as introduction for ethnograhic and cultural interested poeple to introduce them to the world of the keris and it's cultural background, who want to read here new insights should not acquire this book.
But we have here members who could be interested to get a first impression about the Bali keris who will get some useful informations and can have a look to some higher end Bali keris.
And yes, it's a cat. but with some very nice and exquisite Bali keris, which seems to my eyes very worth an exhibition, more as good photographed.
The text part takes the first 61 pages.

Not everyone have the ability to visit museums where he will see only a few keris or have had the good luck to handle and see some good Bali keris so books for a lot of people the only access to see such keris.

Regards,
Detlef

Detlef, i believe you might be addressing your argument in favor of acquiring this catalog to the wrong person. I have never suggested that it was not worth acquiring, only pointing out that according to the specs i read on the book it doesn't seem to leave all that much room for in depth analysis. Actually i personally find quite a bit of usefulness in books of well photographed nice and/or rare keris as i personally do not have quite as much access to view such keris first hand as a few of our members do.

[kai]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Yeah, it could well be, but at E65 and with these two names attached to it, I would expect some text of substance.

Garret's "World of ---" was only a cat. too, but it remains probably the best single work on the Javanese Keris.

Actually, I do like the booklet (available in German and English versions): about half is IMVHO a pretty well-done introductory text mainly based on AW's thesis and the other half pics and short descriptions of all exhibited keris. I would have loved AW to integrate Alan's not-so-recent-anymore paper (2013. An Interpretation of the Pre-Islamic Javanese Keris: cp. http://kerisattosanaji.com/INTERPRETATIONPAGE1.html) or at least comment on it since I feel it also weights in quite a bit on the subject of keris Bali; also I would have liked the pics to also show blades which are hidden in scabbards at the exhibition. Nevertheless I believe it is a really nice book to have...

The booklet/cat is available from ificah.org for 38 Euro (+ postage fee) which certainly is much better deal than offered by the commercial online stores!

Regards,
Kai

[Sajen]

Roland and I am have had last Sunday the trip to Hollenstedt. I only can second what Kai already has said. Günther Heckmann is a very nice and courteous person and we have had some very enjoyable and informative hours. In respect to ificah and the nice booklet for resonable price we don't have taken pictures but it's planed to bring the pictures from ificah online visible but this can take some time.
What I can add is that the display is arranged with care and love to distraction. Very intersting!

[Jean]

I received and read the booklet and basically concur with the positive evaluation made by Kai and Sajen. All the kris shown are of good to high/ exceptional quality, I feel that the estimated age of some blades may be overestimated but have no definite elements to prove it.
The pictures are excellent but because of the black background, the pamor pattern of some blades is hardly visible.
The pamor pattern of many blades (22 out of 31) is identified as "Balinese Ilining Warih (flowing water) equivalent to Javanese Beras Wutah" although they look quite different from each other. This terminology was also used in the book from Neka but I am not sure that it is correct, other opinions would be welcome.
Some Balinese kris terms used (type of hilts, etc.) are not standard.

Regards