Keris for comment

[Arjuna]

Good day!

May I ask you to examine this keris and give me your opinion?

Imho this is a Keris Pajajaran in a good new dress, Warangka in Pajajaran style, golden Pendok with a coat of arms, Javanese writing
The blade is very smooth at the base and has tangible layers at he top.
Unknown pamor

What do you think?

Thank you for your interest
Karl

[Jean]

Hello Arjuna,
The warangka is in ladrang capu style from Solo and not Pajajaran IMO, and the "coat of arms" is rather rustic. The blade is old, the dapur is Sempana Panjul or Bungkem and the worn-out pamor seems in Ngulit semangka style but I am not in position to identify the tangguh.
Regards

[Arjuna]

Thanks Jean,
Seems I ve got some wrong information before...

[kai]

Hello Karl,

Originally Posted by Jean

I am not in position to identify the tangguh.

Even allowing for ample loss of material, I doubt this blade was ever meant to participate in the tangguh "games"...

From the pics the blumbangan seems to be squarish. While the base of the blade is fairly wide, the gandik side reminds me more of Madura style than anything else...

Regards,
Kai

[drdavid]

I wonder also whether the gonjo is a replacement, not that there is anything unusual or wrong about that
drd

[A. G. Maisey]

As has often been repeated in this forum, it is somewhere between difficult and impossible classify any keris according to the tangguh parameters.

However, what we can do is to comment upon what we can see on the screen in front of us, and what we can see may or may not be an accurate representation of a blade. To give a defensible opinion we need to handle a blade.

In respect of this keris.

The Pajajaran classification has at least three sub-classifications.

This keris presents a number of indicators which could permit a classification of Pajajaran, but as already noted, I am not able to state with any certainty that in my opinion this is a tangguh Pajajaran keris. The gonjo might be an old replacement.

However, the wrongko and hilt are definitely not in any way, shape or form, able to be associated with Pajajaran. As Jean has already advised, the wrongko is most likely a kagok capu form, I qualify this name with "most likely" because there are several similar forms and we really need the wrongko in hand to be definite.

The pendok blewah is mid quality Central Javanese, the engraving in the crest on the reverse side does not represent any script I can identify. Material is probably gold plated brass.

The hilt is a Surakarta planar form, I cannot identify the exact form from a photograph, nor can I comment on quality from a photograph, however, it does not seem to have been produced by a craftsman located in the region surrounding Surakarta.

The mendak is a kendit form, the kendit or belt being formed by stones which appear to be yakut (rose cut rock crystal). It is probably gold plated brass.

All in all this is a nicely presented formal style of Central Javanese keris, it has an old blade, and whether it is actually classifiable as Pajajaran or not, it is a nice and a very collectable keris blade.


Kai, with my apologies, this blade does not resemble Madura sepuh in even the smallest degree.

In respect of the blumbangan, I cannot make my mind up what shape it really is, it is shown in several images, and in each one it has a different shape.

[Arjuna]

Thanks to you all for your comments!
I add some pictures of the pejetan for the interested.
Regards
Karl

[kai]

Thanks for the added pics, Karl!

I should have been more careful with analyzing the earlier pics; the new ones show that I was even more wrong...

Regards,
Kai

[A. G. Maisey]

Thanks for the additional photos Arjuno. I'm still a bit uncertain, but if I look at the the length of the gandhik, it seems that the blumbangan must be an elongated one, that is, "brick laying down", and that is another indicator that points in the direction of Pajajaran.