Bali Keris - Ex From Frey Collection

[A. G. Maisey]

David, I used the word "troubled" in the sense that I was unable to place either the hilt or the selut into a totally Balinese context. Quite simply I have never seen a Balinese hilt of this style. I do not doubt that it is Balinese, but I cannot place it within the range of Balinese hilts with which I am familiar. Possibly somebody else can, but I cannot.

Yes, I agree, your hilt does share some similarities with the East Javanese one you have posted a pic of, that's the reason I wrote that possibly origin might be the Balinese community in the Eastern tip of Jawa, in the Banyuwangi regency.

However, the difference in the way the motif is carved bears no similarity at all to the East Javanese style, rather, it is as if somebody needed to create a gerantim, but lacked the resources to make one in the usual way, so they adapted the normal gerantim curl into the motif carved in wood.

I do not doubt for one moment that the fitting of the cup to the hilt was intentional, and I can see it has been done in a professional manner. When the traditional resources are not available, people do the best they can with what they have. We see quite a bit of this with keris dress. We're all used to seeing keris that follow the formal requirements of kraton --- or in the case of Bali, puri --- but there were and still are lots of people who do not come under the direct authority of the seats of royalty and entrenched cultural requirements.

This is quite a nice quality keris, it comes from a known source, it has been published in a prestigious magazine. My approach would be to consider the obvious quality and ignore the small deviation from the expected.

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

This is quite a nice quality keris, it comes from a known source, it has been published in a prestigious magazine. My approach would be to consider the obvious quality and ignore the small deviation from the expected.

Well i do...in fact, i may be the odd man out, but i would even go so far as to say i embrace the deviations. I tend to like oddities and mysteries.
Yes, i agree that the motifs used in my East Jawa hilt are completely different and i see exactly what you mean in your comparison to the gerantim forms. It was just the over all impression of the hilt that reminded me of this East Jawa form.
Rick, i am certainly willing to accept that the cup was adapted from another source and perhaps a dapping block can into play. However, i would think that might endanger the motifs if used as i understand dapping blocks. As for this specific viney motif, it is not quite like any i have seen on a Bugis hilt cup, but if someone has a similar one i would sure like to see it. As Alan points out, if it's from a casting there should be others, if not in Bali then perhaps somewhere in the Malay world.