Thread: Pamorless
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Old 17th April 2020, 01:43 AM   #11
A. G. Maisey
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We do not see pudak setegal in old keris, but we need to be aware that from the Javanese perspective "old keris" means keris prior to the second era of Mataram, ie, more or less prior to 1600.Mataram and younger are "new keris".

Pudak setegal is actually the name of a type of dancer's ear ornament, not an ear ring or stud, but an ornament. Pudhak is the pandanus flower, but the word "setegal" or "sategal" makes no sense to me in this context, so we need to regard the two words together as a name. The dancer's ear ornament is the source of the name for the blade ornamentation.

Both keris & tombak can have this ornament, in tombak its form & placement is strictly prescribed, in keris the form & placement are up to the artistic interpretation of the maker, a number of different approaches are possible.

This keris is an artistic creation. The garap is particularly fine, personally I find this keris very pleasing indeed, it is not classical, nor is it intended to be, but as with all works of art, whether we find something pleasing or not is purely personal taste.

I think the mendak inset will be found to be ivory.

Overall this is very, very good modern keris that would have a relatively high value, the weakest component part is the pendok, and it would not surprise me if somewhere along the line this has been changed from the original, the quality of the other component parts is such that normally an engraved pendok should normally have been fitted, not an embossed pendok.
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