Insofar as style & execution of this winged lion goes, there can be no doubt that it is Balinese work.
It could have been added to this blade some time after the blade was originally forged, or it could have been added during the forging process. One of the ways in which a figure is added to a blade is to thicken the area of blumbangan & gandhik when the rest of the blade had been forged, but the carving is not yet complete.
I have had several blades, both Balinese & Javanese where this appeared to have been done. When the blade has been thickened during the initial forging there is a discontinuity of metal grain, just as is the case when the carving has been added perhaps 100 years after the initial forge process. In fact, adding material to an old blade is a very, very difficult weld to make.
So even discontinuity of metal grain does not tell the whole story, and where age & continual cleaning in the Balinese way has resulted in a polished surface, rather than a textured surface it becomes even more difficult to form an opinion on whether a figure has been added or not.
We must bear in mind, that in Bali, blades are cleaned by polishing with powdered limestone, they are not acid cleaned as is the case in Jawa, this polishing of the blade results in raised sections of the blade acquiring a smooth finish, rather than a textured surface.
Even with an old Balinese blade in hand, & under magnification, it is extremely difficult to form a supportable opinion on just when a Balinese blade might have been altered or added to, & carved figures are not the only alteration or addition that can be made.
|