Early Keris in a Stockholm Museum

[David]

Originally Posted by kai

1889.04.4173
This is a really interesting piece! On first sight, one might be inclined to see a keris Melayu in the blade. However, the greneng/jenggot as well as the gandik sure do look classic Java!

Yes, thanks for posting these Leif!
Yes, i don't think there is a doubt that these are Javanese. As you say though, we rarely get to see keris this old in such pristine condition.
If i had run across this one somewhere else, my first inclination might have been to wonder if Sumatra was a possibility, but i believe the element i am seeing that make me think this are ones that where probably transferred to Palembang during the influences of the Javanese there at the time.
Interesting that none of these keris have mendak. I would have thought they would have been collected as complete keris, especially one belonging to the Swedish queen.
I am not certain about exactly which collections Alan was able to view in Europe, but this may have been one of them.

[A. G. Maisey]

No David, I did not see these.

I handled the Medici kerises in the Bargello in Florence, the older kerises in the State Museum storage facility in Dresden, the older kerises in the care of the State Museum in Copenhagen, the Kerises in the Oriental Museum in Venice, and the late Karsten Jensen's collection in Copenhagen.

I did photograph everything I handled, however, in all cases I was required to sign a Blood Oath that if I were to permit any other person, living or dead, to have copies of my photographs of these keris, I would immediately be tracked down and extradited for prosecution and probable execution by hanging, drawing and quartering.

These European Museums are very cooperative and extremely helpful and accommodating, but I was left with the impression that if one were to cross the line they will not hesitate to make you wish you had never been born.

At least one of these museums was treated in a highly illegal and in my opinion, shameful manner by a very well known keris person in the past, and this was the reason for at least one of the threats of Cruel & Unusual Punishment.

In respect of the keris under discussion in this thread, yes, condition is comparable with most of the older keris that I saw. As I have previously remarked, these +300 year old keris in most cases look as if they came off the bench yesterday.

[Rafngard]

Hello All,

Hopefully I can get some good pictures of these when I'm in Stockholm. I'm cautiously optimistic about the description's mention of 5 total keris, and their accompanying sheaths.

I'm not optimistic about being given an opportunity to handle them, but I do plan on contacting the museum prior to my visit to confirm some details about the keris. Hopefully they're on display and not simply in storage.


Thanks,
Leif

[jagabuwana]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

In respect of the keris under discussion in this thread, yes, condition is comparable with most of the older keris that I saw. As I have previously remarked, these +300 year old keris in most cases look as if they came off the bench yesterday.

I take it that this is because they aren't cleaned routinely as they might be in Java?

[A. G. Maisey]

Probably.