Ivory hilted keris for discussion and id please

A. G. Maisey · 18th November 2018, 08:20 PM

Jean, I'm going to vary a little in my opinion of this keris.

I will reserve comment on the hilt.

The blade is not Javanese, it is Madura, the tells are the kembang kacang, the relatively long point, the greneng, the way in which the material has been handled, the pawakan. It is fairly recent, I think possibly 1980's, but it could be +/- 1900 - 1940. Not any older, unlikely to be any younger. Yes, stylistically it is reminiscent of a Javanese blade, but it is not of Javanese manufacture.

The wrongko is certainly Solo in overall form, but this form has now become more or less the Indonesian national form, I believe this wrongko was made in East Jawa, probably Surabaya, the pendok is from the same area.

As to the question of "originality" , this is a concept that is really only of any importance to collectors in the western world. For keris, and especially keris in Javanese society, it is completely irrelevant. It is nice if we can have a keris where the blade fits well to the top part (gambar) of the scabbard (warongko), but even that does not guarantee that the warongko (wrongko) was made specifically for that keris. Then there is the fact that many keris, particularly high quality keris, highly regarded keris will have a number of wrongkos, each to fit a particular purpose, and along with those wrongkos, hilts (jejeran, ukiran) to accompany the various wrongkos. We need to understand the way in which to think about this situation. In the Javanese mind, only the blade is the keris, only the blade encapsulates the masculine element. The scabbard has a feminine nature, the hilt has a guardian nature, neither male nor female, but both. Just as a man has a number of women, so the keris can have a number of scabbards, and some of those scabbards may have previously belonged to a different keris, just as a beautiful or intelligent woman may have previously belonged to a different man.

We cannot think about keris in a similar way to the way in which we think about other weapons.

18th November 2018, 08:20 PM	#6
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,015	Jean, I'm going to vary a little in my opinion of this keris. I will reserve comment on the hilt. The blade is not Javanese, it is Madura, the tells are the kembang kacang, the relatively long point, the greneng, the way in which the material has been handled, the pawakan. It is fairly recent, I think possibly 1980's, but it could be +/- 1900 - 1940. Not any older, unlikely to be any younger. Yes, stylistically it is reminiscent of a Javanese blade, but it is not of Javanese manufacture. The wrongko is certainly Solo in overall form, but this form has now become more or less the Indonesian national form, I believe this wrongko was made in East Jawa, probably Surabaya, the pendok is from the same area. As to the question of "originality" , this is a concept that is really only of any importance to collectors in the western world. For keris, and especially keris in Javanese society, it is completely irrelevant. It is nice if we can have a keris where the blade fits well to the top part (gambar) of the scabbard (warongko), but even that does not guarantee that the warongko (wrongko) was made specifically for that keris. Then there is the fact that many keris, particularly high quality keris, highly regarded keris will have a number of wrongkos, each to fit a particular purpose, and along with those wrongkos, hilts (jejeran, ukiran) to accompany the various wrongkos. We need to understand the way in which to think about this situation. In the Javanese mind, only the blade is the keris, only the blade encapsulates the masculine element. The scabbard has a feminine nature, the hilt has a guardian nature, neither male nor female, but both. Just as a man has a number of women, so the keris can have a number of scabbards, and some of those scabbards may have previously belonged to a different keris, just as a beautiful or intelligent woman may have previously belonged to a different man. We cannot think about keris in a similar way to the way in which we think about other weapons.