Keris Malela Unduk Unduk

[A. G. Maisey]

I agree with you David, it is not about those sea-horse things, but it is about keris, and I doubt that Alexish is sufficiently advanced in keris knowledge to discern the fine variations in varying forms of keris. To an uneducated eye there is sufficient similarity in the ornamentation of the sorsoran in Gustav's sea-horse and Alexish's kemardikan to consider both are of a type.

As for ricikan in Alexish's keris being non-Javanese, well, the rules changed when the Jakarta Boys decided that we now had a legitimate name for current era keris. The new tangguh was Kemardikan. These days just about anything goes, it is art in the form of a keris, and Alexish's keris is pure kemardikan, it makes no pretense to be anything else, thus it does not need to conform to tangguh parameters set down in earlier times.

My preference would be for a good quality SW wrongko simply because it is a blade that should be appreciated for its own sake, not because it is part of a sociological phenomenon, and I would choose a Jawa Timur SW because they tend to be a bit more decorative than the Jawa Tengah ones, which would permit the top of the wrongko to follow the top of the gonjo. In any case, this kemardikan blade comes from Jawa Timur.

But if you reckon its too far off-topic to be here, why not open a new thread for it and shift it?

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

I agree with you David, it is not about those sea-horse things, but it is about keris, and I doubt that Alexish is sufficiently advanced in keris knowledge to discern the fine variations in varying forms of keris. To an uneducated eye there is sufficient similarity in the ornamentation of the sorsoran in Gustav's sea-horse and Alexish's kemardikan to consider both are of a type.

You are most probably correct about Alexish not recognizing the difference between these two forms of keris. Hopefully by bringing the matter up he might now knows better.

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

As for ricikan in Alexish's keris being non-Javanese, well, the rules changed when the Jakarta Boys decided that we now had a legitimate name for current era keris. The new tangguh was Kemardikan. These days just about anything goes, it is art in the form of a keris, and Alexish's keris is pure kemardikan, it makes no pretense to be anything else, thus it does not need to conform to tangguh parameters set down in earlier times.

I would tend to disagree. Though this blade clearly mixes aspects of styles of blade making i believe there is a pretense towards the Malay peninsula here in the intricate open carvings on the blade as well as the faux batu lapak at the base of the blade, which, though seen on Jawa blades is much more common on Malay keris AFAIK.

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

But if you reckon its too far off-topic to be here, why not open a new thread for it and shift it?

Frankly Alan you should feel free to discuss this blade right here if it pleases you. I don't think it worth the trouble to move to its own thread, but if Alexish would like more discussion on it he is certainly free to do so.

[A. G. Maisey]

David, the Jakarta based keris group of people did change the rules.

This blade is pure Kemardikan, and that places it outside any traditional framework. It does not pretend to be anything other than what it is, it is not pretending to be Peninsula, nor Sumatran, nor Javanese. Nope. Its Kemardikan and proud of it. It does definitely have some East Javanese characteristics in there as well, but its not pretending to be East Javanese either.

Yes, I agree with you, in older, more traditionally made blades we do find more open-work in Peninsula blades, however since the late 1980's Sumenep, and Sumenep influenced craftsmen, have been making keris blades that display open-work. I had one some years ago that was all open work, top to bottom, a total filigree job.

If we take a look at "Court Arts of Indonesia" --- Helen Ibbotson Jessup, we can see a number of examples of open-work in the broad expanse of Javanese art. Perhaps the most frequent use of open-work as a Javanese art attribute can be found in wayang puppets, and especially in the gunungan.

In keris we can find limited openwork in keris of royal quality, and in other tosan aji. In "Court Arts ---" there is a very nice keris betok that is attributed to the 19th century (a false attribution actually, but that is a different story) that is completely filigreed with a Kekayon motif (Tree of Life, which refers to the Gunungan).

Open work, or filigree work, or krawang work in keris and in other art forms , is not exclusive to objects from the Malay Peninsula, it is common in Jawa, and I think that further detailed research would show that in fact it occurs right across the Indonesian Archipelago.

[David]

I sorry i was not more clear Alan. I did not mean to imply that such open spaces carvings don't exist on keris across the archipelago. However, to my eye the style of the vegetal motif carved into this blade looks distinctly Malay. Your mileage may vary.

[A. G. Maisey]

I guess its pretty much a matter of what each of us can see, to me, this lung-lungan motif in Alexish's keris looks no different to a thousand other lung-lungan examples from all across the region. Isolate it from the keris, put it on a plain background and I couldn't say with any authority where it had been created.

[alexish]

With regards to the sarung of the new Indonesian Malela-like keris, it is actually based on a peninsular Malaysia design. Please see attached pictures. This sarung form is called Kusriwo.

[David]

Originally Posted by alexish

With regards to the sarung of the new Indonesian Malela-like keris, it is actually based on a peninsular Malaysia design. Please see attached pictures. This sarung form is called Kusriwo.

I believe that your final product is arrived at much in the way of that old game of "telephone". That is when someone is given a complex sentence and it is whispered in another's ear down the line until at the end of that line the sentence that is repeated back has only a vague resemblance to the original.
The Malay Kusriwo sampir you present here is already a modern interpretation with some artistic license and flourishes, perhaps a bit more extravagant than the form originally intended. Once in the hands of your Madurese (?) carver that form becomes even more abstracted from what one would expect to see in a Kusriwo sarung.