"Early" Moro kris

[Ian]

Hi Gustav, did you get my PM from a week or so ago?

[Ian]

Xasterix has recently posted some excellent pictures from a Spanish auction here. I have looked through the Moro kris shown in those pictures, and there is one that stands out for me as likely to be older than the others based on its features resembling the Javanese keris.

Panoply A from the Xasterix post has been copied below with the swords labeled. Number A-11 appears to be the oldest one shown in these pictures. It has many features seen on the "modern Javanese kris" which I mentioned above. In addition, the gandik is unusually tall for a Moro kris, more in keeping with some old keris, such as the 16th C keris I have referred to before.

In my continuing search for "early" Moro kris, this one may have the most features in common with the Javanese keris. Interestingly, this one does not have an asang asang, and may never have had one (although the quality of the blown up pictures make it hard to tell if there was one originally).

Seeing A-11 displayed with much larger, heavier, and (probably) more recent kris, with notably wider and longer blades, suggests to me that A-11 is a good candidate for a progenitor of the "modern Moro kris." I would place it earlier than 1800, and perhaps much earlier.

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[Rick]

Another A-11

18 inch blade
handle (whale's tooth pommel) 4 and seven eighths inches

LOA 22 and seven eighths inches.

[xasterix]

Originally Posted by Rick

Another A-11

What s beauty!

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by Rick

Another A-11

Another one!

It's 56,5 cm overall, blade alone 44,7 cm.

[Ian]

Thanks Rick and Detlef! Two lovely examples. Can you please provide measurements for length of the blade and overall.

[Ian]

Thanks again to Rick and Sajen for adding the dimensions of their swords to the posts above. Rick's sword is a tad bigger, with a blade that is a cm longer (45.7 vs 44.7 cm) than Sajen's, and also longer overall (58.1 cm vs 56.5 cm). Nevertheless, these are significantly smaller than 19th C examples, such as most of those shown in the picture of the panoply above. On size alone, Rick's and Sajen's swords would be considered "archaic kris." As already noted, these two swords resemble the example A-11 shown above.

Taking a closer look at the ricikin on these two swords shows some interesting features, and perhaps some important differences.



Sajen's sword is on the left; Rick's sword is on the right

Apart from one sword having two asang asang and the other only one, at first sight they look remarkably similar. Closer inspection shows some small differences.

1. The "elephant trunk" area of Sajen's sword shows a gandik that is mostly vertical with a hint of convexity to the free edge; Rick's sword shows an oval space bounded by the sekar kacang and the gandik, caused by the gandik having a concave profile to its free edge. Sajen's configuration is closer to an old keris style, while Rick's example is reflected in many later Moro kris, especially those from Sulu.
2. The line of separation between the ganja and blade on Sajen's sword tends to arc up (not exactly angled but definitely a major departure from horizontal); Rick's sword also departs from linear, but in a more angled manner. While Sajen's configuration is unusual, I don't think much can be made of differences in the line of separation between these two.
3. The greneng on Sajen's sword appear more worn than on Rick's. While this might suggest that Sajen's example is older, I don't think we can make much of this finding. Oxidative losses depend so much on how the piece has been stored and kept oiled.

Both of these swords are excellent candidates for originating before 1800. They may or may not be as old as A-11, but they share a lot of the same important characteristics that reflect the origin of the kris from the "Modern Javanese Keris."

[Ian]

Looking back through the Archives of this site, I came across this most interesting example. It is very thought provoking and had been discussed here a little earlier. Pictures are provided in the later post but are very poor quality. I have spent some time working on them to better define the characteristics on the blade in particular. After more than a decade, it's probably worth reconsidering this keris/kris.

My feeling is that this is definitely a Moro blade but with a strong Balinese influence. My reason for labeling it as "Moro" is the central panel of twist core "pamor" and the presence of an "arrow head" formed by the confluence of two grooves running each side of the sogokan (circled on one of the pictures below). The resemblance of the gandik and lambe gaja to those seen on some Balinese keris was noted previously.

Does anyone have an example of the "arrow head" appearing on Javanese or Balinese keris? I would like to know the indigenous name and meaning for this feature because I think it may be a good indicator of "Moro" origin.

It is hard to know whether this one ever had an asang asang. There is a curious arrangement at the base of the hilt that might suggest it did, but this was not discussed previously. The relationship of the hilt to a Java daemon was discussed earlier, however. The tip of the blade appears to have been damaged, and was also commented on previously.

Dimensions of the sword were not reported.

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