Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · Today, 01:29 PM

This sort of damage is very common Martin, its no big deal. From the photo, it appears that you would have very little difficulty in obtaining wood should you need it.

I agree that it is probably a very bad idea to do "irreversible interventions" & nothing I have written falls within what I understand as an irreversible intervention. I also have a background working with wood. My father was a fine art cabinet maker, & there were cabinet makers stretching back through his family for many generations. He taught me a lot, I was doing minor repairs and french polishing before I finished primary school, ie, before age 12. In fact, I learnt so much from my father that I decided that there were easier & more rewarding ways to earn a living than to work with wood, but my early learning has stood me in good stead during my entire life.

Combine this with what I have learnt in Jawa about the culturally correct way in which to relate to the keris, & there you have my foundations.

In Jawa, keris dress is not valued in anything like the way it is valued by collectors who are outside Javanese culture & society, as it was put to me by more than one person, the hilt & wrongko of a keris are like the clothes of a man: they should be changed when necessary, but the keris itself must be preserved.So, if you were Javanese & you took a liking to this keris, you would very likely not have the scabbard repaired at all, you would give the keris to a m'ranggi to bring the blade back to life & to make at least a new wrongko for it.

But you are not Javanese & you do not have the ability to turn this keris over to a m'ranggi to bring it back, so you need to do the best you can with what you have. I have attempted to provide a very basic guide in respect of how you might be able to do that.

This keris is a Javanese cultural artefact, & the Javanese own their own culture, if we respect the mores of that culture we should act according to those mores, not adopt an attitude where we place the mores of our own culture & society above those of Javanese culture & society.

Today, 01:29 PM	#12
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,239	This sort of damage is very common Martin, its no big deal. From the photo, it appears that you would have very little difficulty in obtaining wood should you need it. I agree that it is probably a very bad idea to do "irreversible interventions" & nothing I have written falls within what I understand as an irreversible intervention. I also have a background working with wood. My father was a fine art cabinet maker, & there were cabinet makers stretching back through his family for many generations. He taught me a lot, I was doing minor repairs and french polishing before I finished primary school, ie, before age 12. In fact, I learnt so much from my father that I decided that there were easier & more rewarding ways to earn a living than to work with wood, but my early learning has stood me in good stead during my entire life. Combine this with what I have learnt in Jawa about the culturally correct way in which to relate to the keris, & there you have my foundations. In Jawa, keris dress is not valued in anything like the way it is valued by collectors who are outside Javanese culture & society, as it was put to me by more than one person, the hilt & wrongko of a keris are like the clothes of a man: they should be changed when necessary, but the keris itself must be preserved.So, if you were Javanese & you took a liking to this keris, you would very likely not have the scabbard repaired at all, you would give the keris to a m'ranggi to bring the blade back to life & to make at least a new wrongko for it. But you are not Javanese & you do not have the ability to turn this keris over to a m'ranggi to bring it back, so you need to do the best you can with what you have. I have attempted to provide a very basic guide in respect of how you might be able to do that. This keris is a Javanese cultural artefact, & the Javanese own their own culture, if we respect the mores of that culture we should act according to those mores, not adopt an attitude where we place the mores of our own culture & society above those of Javanese culture & society.