Strange engraved Keris blade.

David · 11th March 2016, 03:28 PM

Well that sure is an interesting keris you have there. It is not unheard of to decorate a talismanic keris in this manner, often with figures from the wayang. If you can get a hold of the book Iron Ancestors by Alkema, Grishaaver & Sirag you will find a short chapter on similar blades, though there is very little depth to the information on them there. I have seen more recent attempts of taking old, uninteresting blades and adding new reliefs to them to make them look more interesting, but that doesn't appear to be the case here. Likewise i have seen completely new pieces with such markings that have been artificially aged, but again that doesn't appear to be the case as far as i can tell from your photos. This looks, to my eye at least, to be a legitimately old blade with original markings on it, though i have been fooled before.
I don't think what you are seeing is pamor, but rather the structure of the iron itself. There my be some residual pamor on this blade if it ever had any, but i don't see much sense in an acid wash and warangan treatment.
Can you give us a little more info about it. How long is just the blade itself? Have you removed the hilt yet (it is facing in the wrong direction)? It might be helpful to get a look at the pesi (tang). I also wouldn't mind seeing the front side of the sheath as well as a photo from the top of the blade looking down on the gonjo, perhaps when the hilt is removed. Thanks for showing this.

11th March 2016, 03:28 PM	#2
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,219	Well that sure is an interesting keris you have there. It is not unheard of to decorate a talismanic keris in this manner, often with figures from the wayang. If you can get a hold of the book Iron Ancestors by Alkema, Grishaaver & Sirag you will find a short chapter on similar blades, though there is very little depth to the information on them there. I have seen more recent attempts of taking old, uninteresting blades and adding new reliefs to them to make them look more interesting, but that doesn't appear to be the case here. Likewise i have seen completely new pieces with such markings that have been artificially aged, but again that doesn't appear to be the case as far as i can tell from your photos. This looks, to my eye at least, to be a legitimately old blade with original markings on it, though i have been fooled before. I don't think what you are seeing is pamor, but rather the structure of the iron itself. There my be some residual pamor on this blade if it ever had any, but i don't see much sense in an acid wash and warangan treatment. Can you give us a little more info about it. How long is just the blade itself? Have you removed the hilt yet (it is facing in the wrong direction)? It might be helpful to get a look at the pesi (tang). I also wouldn't mind seeing the front side of the sheath as well as a photo from the top of the blade looking down on the gonjo, perhaps when the hilt is removed. Thanks for showing this.