Wilah from?

[Harley]

Hello everyone,

I am new on this forum, but it feels like I been here for months, there is so much to read and to learn.
But I have a question, and I hope you can help me with it.
I recently bought a keris, with a Sumatra sheat, de keris fits like a glove, en there are no sins of recent adjustment to it, there was a Bali hilt on it, I think Ganesha,
de keris itself looks like it’s been polish, just what I have seen on Bali wliah’s , the peksi is about 8 mm thick and 8 cm long, so no small hilt on this one, the wilah without the peksi is 38 cm.
The pendok looks like it’s home made, and not a very good job.
The only thing I now about it is that came to Nederland between the two WW, the person that brought it here was a teacher in Indonesia.
So the question is, is this a Bali wilah or Sumatra or ......?
I hope you guys can help me out, and sorry for my bad writing.

kind regards, Ben

[Sajen]

Hello Ben,

first welcome to the forum!
The sheath isn't from Sumatra but from Bali/Lombok and called sesrengantan but not a very well carved one and I think that the blade is as well from Bali/Lombok not only because it is polished. Do you have opened the pendok which have a East Java/Madura style? Maybe it was attached because the gandar is damaged?

Regards,

Detlef

[Harley]

Thanks Detlef,

I was convinced that it was Sumatra, but i am glad to hear that is is from Bali, then things come together.
I have removed the pendok, and i don't no if you mean the lower part of the warangka(gandar)?, if so it was not in good condition, and definitely was made for a pendok, the bottom was straight cut, and open.
But that is no problem, i could replace that part.

regards Ben

[Sajen]

Hello Ben,

yes, the part down from the sampir/warangka or wrongko is called by javanese keris gandar; by keris from Bali penyejer. The pendok from your keris isn't a balinese one so my assumption that it was placed to cover a demaged gandar/penyejer. A gandar isn't never original cut in down or open.

Regards,

Detlef

[David]

There is also a chance that this is a Bali/Madura piece, that is, a keris from Madura that is for a member of cultural Balinese living there. This type of pendok with the open window down the center is not something i have seen on Bali or Lombak keris and is more common to Madura/East Jawa wrongko. I would also like to see a closer view of the hilt because i an not convinced from the present photos that this hilt is truly Balinese. There appears to be a missing "selut" of some sort and it does not look like the kind that i would expect on a Balinese hilt. At 15 inches this could well be a Bali/Lombok blade, but they often tend to be even longer than that. The state of polish alone is not necessarily an indicator of place of origin.

[Sajen]

When I look again to your sheath I understand why you have thought that it is a sheath from Sumatra/Palembang. The sheath look like the carver hasn't known how to look a sesrengentan sheath from Bali and have created a mixture from this both sheaths.
For better understanding I have attached pictures from your sheath beside from both sheath forms. The sesrengentan pictures are taken from the book "Keris Bali Bersejarah".

[Harley]

Hello Detlef & David,

David, the pendok is really someone's homework, so I think it was made this way because there is no grade of difficultly to make it, but thats my opinion.
I have enclosed 2 pictures of the hilt, it is kind of strange that the bottom part totally is different than what i have seen.
It was not only the polished wilah, but also the extreme peksi, i really don't no what other kind of hilt would fit.

Detlef, you hit the nail on the head, i have that same example here, en even now i know that it's Bali, i can't help that i still think that he looks more like the Palembang, maybe a Monday morning product

Thanks for the answers.

regards,
Ben

[David]

Originally Posted by Harley

Detlef, you hit the nail on the head, i have that same example here, en even now i know that it's Bali, i can't help that i still think that he looks more like the Palembang, maybe a Monday morning product

Well again Ben, the more i see of this dress the more i am convinced that it does not originate from either Bali or Lombok. The lack of the proper nuances of the true sesrengantan form, the use of this type of pendok (whether "homemade" or not) and the close-up of the roughly hewn hilt just don't jive with work i would expect from the actual Bali or Lombok culture.
Seeing this blade in cleaned up and in proper stain might help a bit with pinpointing it's origin.

[Harley]

Now it's rather getting puzzled , I agree that the hilt is from a very poor quality, but are there more area's where they use this kind of hilt?
I am working on it David, from what i have seen the blade is very quick responding on the warangan, I only was cleaning the blade but in the juice
there was probably some old warangan, so i could see the blackness on the blade with very clear pamor, but i cleaned it off because i need the blade to make the new gandar.
Thanks for your contribution David.

regards,
Ben

[A. G. Maisey]

When I look at this keris what I believe I see is a plain but good Balinese blade in very sub-standard dress.

There is no doubt in my mind that the blade is Balinese:- the pesi is typically Balinese, and as Harley has noted, what type of hilt other than Balinese will fit it; the pamor is typical coarse Bali pamor, the unetched blade finish typical Balinese, the neat, positive garap typically Balinese. What else could it be but Balinese?

But the dress is a fish of a different feather.

Plain ugly.

As Detlef has commented, it looks as if the carver set out to make a scabbard form of which he only had a very sketchy idea.

The hilt is poorly carved, again it looks as if the maker was running on depleted memory banks.

If it was collected in Bali in the period 1920 to 1940, we are looking at the period when tourism was just beginning in Bali. The puputans had all but extinguished the previous social structure, the Dutch then tried to turn Bali into a living museum, tourism had not developed to anywhere near what we see today, the Balinese craftsmen and artists were coming under the influence of European artists, as well as being influenced by what European tourists wanted. Much of the refinement that we expect to see in Balinese art and craft at the present time is very probably due in great measure to the millions of foreign visitors that Bali admits each year. If we look closely at pre-European influenced Balinese style and art, it is very much closer to the tribal art of various areas in S.E. Asia.

Yes, millions of visitors. Over 2,500,000 arrivals in 2010. That's a big market, and the artisans of Bali do their best to satisfy it.

If we go back to the period between 1920 and 1940 it was a totally different picture. Even in 1966 there were hardly any foreigners in South Bali, and entry and exit was not nearly as easy as it is today.

To a large degree the foreign visitors to Bali have created the art of Bali, or more correctly, European perspectives have been responsible for the development of existing art norms to the point where common people can afford the level of refinement that was once only available to kings and princes.

We could hypothesise about the origins of this scabbard and hilt all day, but my personal opinion is that it was made in Bali, by a carver of no particular talent, however, from what I can see of the pendok, this does not look like Balinese workmanship, nor design. I think the pendok is a later addition.

[Harley]

Dear Mr Maisey,

Thank you for your explanation, the blade Bali, good but simple, the rest is going in the parts box
I am going to try to make the sheath myself, never had tried one from Bali, but if you don't try, you never know.
Because it's a simple blade, what do you think would be a better dress for it,
gayaman, or the one that Detlef mentioned (sesrengantan)?

Thanks again everyone, for helping out!

regards,
Ben

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

We could hypothesise about the origins of this scabbard and hilt all day, but my personal opinion is that it was made in Bali, by a carver of no particular talent, however, from what I can see of the pendok, this does not look like Balinese workmanship, nor design. I think the pendok is a later addition.

I know how much you hate guessing games, but would it make sense that this keris may have ended up on a different island given the style of the pendok (whether well made or not) that was added. It just seems so out of place for a Bali keris. I find it hard to believe that a native Balinese would have this added to his keris even if it was to be done on the cheap. I can accept that a sheath might be this poorly conceived by a native Balinese but the pendok seems such a mysterious addition throwing the entire ensemble off for me.

[Harley]

David,

I can image n that probably something like you said, has happened with this keris.
It could be that someone bought the keris from Bali, and was living in another area, there the keris has fallen or somehow broke, and they repaired it with
everything they could lay there hands on.
And years later we trying to resolve the mystery

regards,
Ben

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes David, certainly, its as I said:- a later addition.

There is nothing about the pendok that looks like Bali or that looks original to this scabbard, for me. My guess is that it was most probably done in Jakarta to make the keris salable.

Harley, if I were to redress this keris I'd be looking at a gayaman wrongko, I would not give it a pendok, and since you undoubtedly do not have a set of segrek to cut the inside of the gandar so there is no joint, I'd be making the gandar in two pieces and glueing down the sides with two part epoxy adhesive, not wood working glue, because woodworking glue can generate rust.

Working out of the Indonesian environment, a pale, plain grained soft wood would be the best choice, and then stain to imitate pelet--- the Balinese and Javanese used to do it, and still do it, why shouldn't you?

[Harley]

Thanks Mr Maisey,

Then that is what i am going to try, i have done the gandar a couple of times,
but like you said i have not the tools to make it in one piece.
I have some plain Indonesian wood that i use for making the sheath, but for the pelet i really must do some practice, i tried one time before, without looking for an example, with as result a ugly kendit

I just realized that i only have a Balinese patrem keris, can someone tell me
what the measurement of the width for a gayaman is?, the rest i can work out.

regards,
Ben

[A. G. Maisey]

I would not call that kendit ugly, its well within the parameters of a natural kendit.

Bali gayams vary a bit in size, they're not as disciplined as Solo and Jogja gayams.

I've just picked up the closest one and its measurements are 185mm long, depth at center point is 57mm, thickness at widest point on top is 26mm, the entire wrongko is 584mm from top of the atasan to the tip of the gandar. Proportion wise it looks a bit too long in the gandar for the size of the atasan.

[Jean]

Hello Ben,
Is the peksi of the blade original and intact? From your 3rd picture it seems as if it was possibly cut and rewelded about 1 cm from the base but it may be just an impression.
Best regards
Jean

[David]

Jean, i think you might just be seeing remnants of the cloth wrapping.

[Jean]

Originally Posted by David

Jean, i think you might just be seeing remnants of the cloth wrapping.

May be, let us wait the reply from Ben, I see a rusty and slightly hollow line on the bottom part.
Ben, is the ganja separate (very thin line) or iras (integral to the blade)?
Regards

[Harley]

Thanks Mr Maisey,

I really don't like the look of the kendit, when i made this sheath it was the only thing i could do to make the plain sheath more attractive, now i first would look for examples, and hopefully do a better job.
Thanks again for the measurements!

Hello Jean,

It's like David said, old wrapping and glue, i can understand that they were afraid to lose this beautiful hilt
To me it looks like a lose ganja, but it's indeed a very thin line, i think the person were i bought it from has painted the peksi en the ganja to save it from rust.

regards,
Ben

[Jean]

Originally Posted by Harley

Hello Jean,

It's like David said, old wrapping and glue, i can understand that they were afraid to lose this beautiful hilt
To me it looks like a lose ganja, but it's indeed a very thin line, i think the person were i bought it from has painted the peksi en the ganja to save it from rust.

regards,
Ben

OK, thanks for the confirmation and information about this strange black colour of the peksi and ganja.
By the way I am not very familiar with old Balinese blades and would not have identified this one as Balinese, thank you Alan!
Regards
Jean

[Harley]

I hope you guys can help me with another question, the grain in de java
sheaths are vertical, but so far i can see it from pictures on the net, i rather think that in Bali sheaths the grain is horizontal.
Is that right?

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes Harley, the grain in most Bali scabbards is horizontal.

However, it is not that simple with Javanese scabbards.

The ideal grain orientation for a Javanese scabbard is with the grain running at about 40 degrees from the top right, to the bottom left, with the scabbard facing you.

That is the ideal, but a tukang wrongko will change this ideal orientation to suit the grain of the wood, the size of the wood, and to maximize effect.

In some woods it is not possible to get a piece of wood large enough to allow the ideal grain orientation, for instance, in scented sandalwood pieces large enough to allow cutting across the grain have become quite rare.

The examples:-

A--- shown in reverse to allow better ID of grain orientation; this is a typical, village quality Bali scabbard

B--- better quality Bali in timoho

C--- the angle of the grain in this East Javanese scabbard is a trifle too steep.

D--- Solo, and the angle is far too steep, almost vertical

E--- Solo, and the grain is absolutely horizontal, dictated by the size of the wood available.

F--- Solo, and the angle is close to ideal.

G--- Solo, and carved to maximize grain effect.

Mostly fancy grain in a log is maximised by quarter sawing that log, and this is the way we achieve the best results with fancy grains such as feather crotch( Jawa:- simbar), but the tukang wrongko does not have control over the sawing of the log, he gets a precut plank or even a roughed out bakalan , and he needs to make the best of what he has been given.

[David]

Thanks for this illustrated post Alan. Very good information...

[Harley]

I am glad that it is, i was already started, with the risk of trowing it away when i was wrong.
I did not expected it was so complicated with the Javanese scabbard, but now i know and can take it to my advance.
I am purely a hobbyist, ho wants to do his best to restore the neglected keris,
cause over here there are a lot of them.
I definitely have not the skills of the craftsmen in Indonesie, not even by far,
but i like doing it.
The examples are really beautiful, very good for inspiration, i see that i had a different example then the Bali gayaman that are placed.
This is what i have done so far, of course it's only the rough form.
Thank you Mr Maisey for your explanation!

[A. G. Maisey]

Looks good Harley, you've got talent.

But don't forget the contouring, this is difficult to see in photos and you really need an example in the hand to follow.

[Sajen]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Looks good Harley, you've got talent.

This I only can confirm!

[Harley]

Thank you,

But don't give me to much credit, this was the easy part.
As Mr Maisey mentioned, the contours are more difficult to do, but we'll see.
If i don't place pictures anymore, then you can count it's in the bin, and i have to start all over again

regards,
Ben

[Sajen]

Hello Harley,

which wood you have used?

Regards,

Detlef

[Harley]

Hello Sajen,

I really don't no, my father in law gave it to me 20 years ago to make a very stable workbench , but now i have a better use for it.
The only thing i can tell you that it is hardwood, en i can remember that there was a stamp on from Indonesia.
Thats all i know about it, sorry.

regards,
Ben