Unknown keris blade, Solo or Madura?

[A. G. Maisey]

OK Paul, thanks.

So I still do not have a direction.

At this point your guess is as good as mine --- but it is not Surakarta, that much I can say. In fact, it might not even be Jawa --- the ron dha and in fact the entire greneng do not really follow any Jawa pattern.

There is something else that perhaps should be considered, something that is not generally known and almost invariably gets disregarded. In Central Jawa and to a lesser extent in East Jawa there is a practice --- I hesitate to call it a "tradition", because I do not know that it is --- that a person who is not a pande keris, or an mpu, or even a pande besi, might make one or two keris for himself or his immediate family. This is still happening today, and certainly did happen in the past. When we have somebody who is outside the general body of artisans engaged in any craft or trade, we find inexplicable variations in style and execution, when we encounter this, it becomes virtually impossible to use the indicators and tells that we normally use to classify something. This might be the case here.

[Bjorn]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

OK Paul, thanks.

So I still do not have a direction.

At this point your guess is as good as mine --- but it is not Surakarta, that much I can say. In fact, it might not even be Jawa --- the ron dha and in fact the entire greneng do not really follow any Jawa pattern.

There is something else that perhaps should be considered, something that is not generally known and almost invariably gets disregarded. In Central Jawa and to a lesser extent in East Jawa there is a practice --- I hesitate to call it a "tradition", because I do not know that it is --- that a person who is not a pande keris, or an mpu, or even a pande besi, might make one or two keris for himself or his immediate family. This is still happening today, and certainly did happen in the past. When we have somebody who is outside the general body of artisans engaged in any craft or trade, we find inexplicable variations in style and execution, when we encounter this, it becomes virtually impossible to use the indicators and tells that we normally use to classify something. This might be the case here.

This is information that is entirely new to me, and personally I find it quite interesting. I think the notion of making one or two keris for oneself or one's family is a rather charming one. It certainly makes it a very personal item.