Something worth a passing glance

[SidJ]

And on the motif I thought it was a bird or eel! Semen was the last thing on my mind but what if any does it stand for and is it commonly seen on keris? I guess it's a male Shiva Lingam power thing?

[A. G. Maisey]

I thought it might have come from me, but I usually rely on memory with this sort of thing --- ie, what i once had & no longer do have --- & my memory banks are over-full, so I tend to forget things. However, if i said it was silver when I passed it to you, it is silver, I always test before I say someting is silver, its too easy to make a mistake.

As to the motif. The word "semen" comes from "semi", it is the same root that gives us the "tunggak semi" planar jejeran/pegangan style, "semi" means to sprout, to blossom, to form a bud, the idea is representative of new life, a new start.

In olden times the semen class of batik motifs were the prerogative of royalty.

There are a lot of semen motifs and they can include a lot of sub-motifs, in your pendok the boomerang type things are supposedly representative of a tiered garden, but we can also see birds, a suggestion of serpents and foliage, the fan-like motif at the top of the pendok is supposedly representative of a peacock.

I'm not expert in the reading of these motifs, and I rely to a large extent on two sources:- batik pattern books & the opinions of people who know vastly more than I do about Javanese art motifs.

[jagabuwana]

Beautiful stuff. Thank you for sharing with us, Alan.

[SidJ]

Thanks Alan,

Stupid question but is there any link or association between the keris and the pending pattern? Complementary in some way? Or no connection at all?

[SidJ]

Pendok

[A. G. Maisey]

No Sid, not really any cultural connection.

If we look at old examples of Javanese pendok we find most of them are quite plain. The ethic is, and has been for a long time, that it is best to hide the nature of one's keris from the sight of others. If the characteristics of the keris itself are known, those characteristics can be used against the possessor of the keris. In various places & at various times, the gonjo of the keris was made without pamor, & the underlying reason for this was to effectively seal the nature of the keris from the knowledge of other people.

However, a pendok can carry a message, & that message is not linked to the keris itself, but rather to the possessor or wearer of the keris. In kraton society the sunggingan pendoks are colour coded to show the rank of the wearer.

Traditional motifs can be read in the same way that those motifs are understood in batiks & other decorative arts. In some cases a pendok might carry a motif that relates to the wearer's character or profession, for example, in Bali a dancer might have a pendok with a dancer embossed on it.

However, I believe that in most cases the pendok fitted to a keris is simply one that the person who fitted it believes is a harmonious combination with the rest of the dress.

[SidJ]

Thanks Alan,
I am grateful for your thoughts.
Best
Sid