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Old 7th January 2024, 07:57 PM   #3
A. G. Maisey
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Join Date: May 2006
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Kai, Jaga did say that it is kamardikan, so yeah, it is recent, & he did not claim that it is "high end", Javanese high end starts a lot further up the dollar ladder than I think this keris might have cost Jaga.

But this keris is certainly within Surakarta parameters.

The dress is very fine, the blade has been made to a high standard.

Exposure of pamor within the sogokan is something that depends upon the method used to weld the blade, it has nothing at all to do with any evaluation of quality, however, the exposure of pamor within the body of the blade is something that would have been better avoided if possible.

The absolute ideal for pamor wengkon is that the wengkon line follows the blade edge & pamor is not exposed in the kruwingan, however, this ideal is seldom met. Back in the 1980's & 1990's it was pretty well known that only one currently working pande was consistently capable to meeting this very high level of excellence. The ideal is not even exposure of the pamor, except when that pamor is wos wutah wengkon, the ideal when the pamor is only wengkon is non exposure of the pamor in the kruwingen. Very few makers have ever been capable of this. Jayasukadgo could achieve this standard, but Jayasukadgo work is very, very distant from any kamardikan work, & in fact from the work of most other makers of any era.

All blades need to be appraised in accordance with the standards that apply to the particular classification of blade.

If we are talking Kamardikan & we are talking Surakarta Karaton, then only two makers really qualify for appraisal of their work in accordance with those Karaton standards, those two makers are Empu Suparman Supowijoyo, and Pande Keris Seni Pauzan Pusposukadgo.

Yes, since the passing of Susuhunan Pakubuwana XII a couple of other makers have been accepted as members of the Surakarta Karaton hierarchy, but it is perhaps wise not to get involved in discussion about this.
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