[A. G. Maisey]

This post only deals with the metal pendok in Grendolino's photo #8.

It might seem a bit silly to focus on something as insignificant as this one humble little beat up pendok, however, the attention it has drawn and the remarks associated with it indicates to me that I should comment just a little more on than I did with my original "don't know" comment.

I am not pushing any barrow here, I am only going try to provide a little bit of insight into the reason for my original comment, and that original comment still holds good as far as I am concerned.

In post #2 I wrote this:-

"8) I would need to handle these to be able to support an opinion."

after some comments by other people I wrote this in post #19 :-

"In respect of the pendok motif.

I have seen this motif and this pendok design on a number of keris that people who have vastly more knowledge of Bugis-type keris than I do have classified as "Sulawesi Selatan".

If I had this pendok in hand and could closely examine construction & workmanship, I might be able to give a supportable opinion on origin, but as is often the case, I have a lot of problems with trying to be too definite from what I think I can see in photographs."

Then in post #22, I wrote this:-

"--- I have seen some copies of Bugis dress made in Bali, made in Surabaya, and made somewhere else in Jawa. It looks the same as the real deal but there are minor differences in construction

However, Ahmad Ubbe, Andi Irwan Zulfikar & Dray Vibrianto Senewe are respected collectors of Bugis edged weapons, they authored "Senjata Pusaka Bugis". In this book they attribute keris with pendok having the same and comparable motifs to the one being discussed here to South Sulawesi.---"

Following this post #22, David & Jean & Athanese all posted photos of keris that they identified as Minangkabau.

So there seems to be at least a degree of belief that the pendok in photo #8 is from Sumatera, and probably from Minangkabau. I have no problem with this, much of our so-called keris "knowledge" is in fact keris belief. These beliefs can be both indigenous beliefs and beliefs that come from outside the culture & society of origin of the keris. But beliefs do tend to become somewhat eroded when subjected to close objective examination, and this applies not only to beliefs related to the keris, but to virtually all beliefs. Samuel Arbesman.

To focus on the pendok shown in photo #8:- this pendok has been made in one piece, on a mandrel, it is impossible to know the form of the buntut, the only identifiers we have are the motif and possibly the lis, but I am not able to discern if that lis is straight or curved, and even if I could I am not sure that the form could be used as an identifier. Construction can be an identifier, but from the photo we cannot possibly see much about construction except that it is one piece made on a mandrel.

The scabbards of all the complete keris that have been shown differ, are they all Minangkabau? All Sumatera? Personally, I do not know. I have done no field research at all in Sumatera, I have never been anywhere near Minangkabau country, I do know a couple of people from Minangkabau, but I would prefer to leave their comments relevant to Minangkabau keris out of this conversation. I do not know of any truly authoritative work in print on Minangkabau keris, nor for that matter on keris in general from Sumatera.

What we are left with upon which to base a point of origin is only the motif on a damaged pendok. So let us look at the motif.

The motif on Athanese's silver pendok is a composite motif, it consists of a top panel that falls into the Javanese lung-lungan family, this top panel has an inner tumpul pattern border and an outer border that in the photo appears to be classifiable as a meander pattern, the motif in the lower panel falls into the parang family of motifs; probably everybody with a keris interest has heard of the "parang rusak" motif, collectors who are outside of core Javanese culture normally understand "parang rusak" as "damaged parang" the word "parang" taken as "sword", so "damaged sword". However, in the context of this art motif, "parang" means "cliff", "rusak" is "damaged" and there is a philosophical meaning in Javanese culture for the idea of a damaged cliff. The Parang Rusak motif is in fact a motif with royal connotations.

The Parang family of motifs is normally displayed in a rectangular field, commonly as motif for a sarung, this family of motifs numbers probably into the hundreds.

When this motif is used as part of a composite motif, as is often the case in North Coast batik motifs, we find that the individual motifs are not named, but the composite motif that might contain, say, three motifs is named as a "tri negari" motif, literally, "three countries", each motif being euphemistically referred to as a "country".

The face of a pendok provides a roughly rectangular field, so the use of this not uncommon art motif as a motif for a pendok should not surprise.

However, this composite motif is one that seldom appears on pendoks in Central Jawa. Lung-lungan motifs are common, parang motifs are not unknown, but the North Coast Tri Negari motif is to my knowledge not used on pendok in Central Jawa.

Art motifs in the Malay Archipelago and Peninsula are widely spread, I belief that most of these motifs have their roots in Javanese culture, and that is perfectly understandable, because for more than 1000 years, Javanese culture has been the dominant culture in South East Asia, and has exported its products into every corner of South East Asia, and beyond. So a motif by itself can rarely be used as an identifier for place of origin of the object that it adorns. In some cases the interpretation of the motif might be able to be used, especially so when the object that the motif adorns can be positively identified as being from a particular place. But where we have an object that could be from one of many places we most certainly cannot use a very common art motif used in its decoration to positively identify point of origin of the object, most especially so when that object has been damaged.

Then we have another little problem. In Jawa there are several places that have made objects for export to other places since the time of Majapahit at least. These objects that have been exported include the blades of weapons, including keris, and items needed to dress these weapons, especially items that need a high degree of technical skill. The making of a pendok does require a high degree of technical skill, and pendoks have been made in Jawa for a long time for export to other places.

In Kota Gede, near Jogja in Central Jawa the industry of silver & brass work has existed for at least several hundred years, it grew and flourished in the late colonial era, and today its workshops supply silver religious objects to cathedrals in New York and Rome, and menorah to synagogues in USA and across the world. Some of these workshops have also supplied pendoks to other places in South East Asia for over 100 years.

Then there are the craftsmen who make these silver & brass objects. Young men come from places across Indonesia to learn the craft of silver & brass work in Jogja, then they go home to wherever they came from use the skills, tools and motifs that they learnt in Jogja to produce items in their own home towns. A similar situation applies on a much lesser scale in Eastern Indonesia, where young men come from the islands east of Bali to learn the silver & brass crafts in Celuk and the Ubud area in general, and then take those skills home with them. Of course, some craftsmen who might not be doing too well in the highly competitive market of Central Jawa also decide to move to a different area where there is less competition and higher rewards.

To my mind, it is never wise to dismiss the opinion of any person who is recognised in his own culture & society as an authority in any field. People such as the authors of "Senjata Pusaka Bugis" are recognised by keris literate people in Indonesia as a whole, and in Sulawesi in particular, as authorities in the field of Bugis edged weaponry. People of Bugis heritage do own their own culture. Their opinions must be taken note of, and if we wish to dismiss those opinions we must be able to build a very strong supporting case.

As I have already advised, I know very little about keris from areas other than Jawa and perhaps Bali, but I do know sufficient to understand that I do not know.

Based upon the evidence presented of a single photograph of a damaged pendok that bears a motif that can be found across all of Indonesia, and possibly beyond, I find that it is absolutely impossible for me to name with any confidence a probable location for the origin of the pendok shown in photo #8.

I've said it before:- the more I learn, the less I know.