The basics of keris understanding?

[Jussi M.]

Time for the yearly bump!

[Jussi M.]

And a new to the rest of 2011.

[Montino Bourbon]

I know very little about Keris; I have collected a few, and I probably have some decent ones. My favorite one came from a pawn shop here in Santa Barbara. About 10 years ago, I happened to walk in, and saw some Keris hanging on the wall. There was one that I immediately felt an affinity to; the handle was in the shape of Petruk, very finely carved, the scabbard was very finely painted, and the blade seemed old. The layers looked quite fine, and there were some interesting details in the Pamor. I offered them money, but they turned me down.

I went home, and that night I had a very vivid dream about that Keris, a dream in which I owned it and it was my friend. (!?) Yes, I know, it seems a little bit strange, but I kept going into the shop and offering them more money, in $50 increments. Finally I told them that this was an Italian auction; I would get to a point where I would simply not bother coming back. They would not know what my maximum was; all they would know is that I was finished bidding.

That was when they decided they would sell it to me. Since then, I've sent pictures of that particular Keris to Alan, who has been kind enough to give me quite a bit of information on it.

My decision was based on several things:

A– the beauty of the handle carving, the fineness of the Pamor, and the unbelievable fineness of the painting;

B– the affinity that I felt. Call it psychic, call it spiritual, call it whatever you want; I just KNEW that this was my long-lost friend. Although I own several Keris, this particular one speaks to me without the shadow of a doubt.

I know almost nothing about Tanguh, Dapur, and other particulars of the Keris; I just know what I like, and what I feel.

[Jussi M.]

Originally Posted by Montino Bourbon

I know almost nothing about Tanguh, Dapur, and other particulars of the Keris; I just know what I like, and what I feel.

What a fascinating story! Thank you for telling it to us. I bet you felt good when you finally were able to give home to your friend

I have absolutely no clue whatsoever on the particulars either but I do know what something feels to me. - My answer now moves along way to what was discussed a while back in the "Appreciation" thread, yet I feel (pun intended) we are tightly within the topic of this thread also as I stated on the opening post that.

In your subjectively objective opinion what forms the core of the understanding of the keris? What areas should be addressed? - How, what, why?

The attempt of trying to gain a complete understanding on such a vast subject as the keris is - in my opinion - a futile task. It cannot be achieved. Much how ever can be achieved and the joy of learning is the best reward.

Now from my personal perspective I tend to look at the keris with four different set of eyeglasses: as a cultural phenomena, as a time machine, as a story teller and lastly but not least, as an object of art. The first three are related to studying the keris as a hobby and whilst I do give these views space when deciding on possible acquisitions it is the last that either makes or breaks my interested on any keris. That is the "feel" I get from it. A keris for me has to have "cadence". It does not matter whether it is steady, broken, fast or mellow it has to evoke a feel of movement or a pause in between that I like. If I do not like the "cadence" of a keris it most likely is not going to play part in my little ensemble of pointy gamelan. Yeah, consideration is given to "tonality" also but for me the appreciation of tonal characteristics is more of a learnt thing whereas good cadence is something I appreciate intuitively.

So "cadence" it is for me. The rest is more learnt appreciation behavior that stems from studying the subject. To express the same in other words I tend to look at kerises very "monochromatically". Basically what I am saying is that being personally drawn to a keris regardless on how it stacks on other criteria should always count if not for another reason for the fact that this cannot be avoided.

Did a bit messy writing above but I hope you get my drift. Something like this is a bit difficult to bring across right for a non native English writer.

Thanks,

J.

[A. G. Maisey]

My posts sometimes become overlong and twisting to the point where many people probably don't read them, or if they do, they don't understand what I've written.

I'll try to keep this post brief and to the point.

This Forum is mostly frequented by collectors.

There are very few collectors in any field who want to move past the simple acquisition of objects.

Acquire : identify : catalogue : move on

When a collector diverges from this basic behaviour pattern and seeks some deeper knowledge that concerns the objects he collects, he moves from being a collector to being a student.

Students study. This is what defines a student, the act of study.

But before study can be undertaken, it is necessary to identify the area that needs to be studied.

Jussi has identified several possible areas of study.

Has anybody ever delved more than superficially into any of these areas?

If so, perhaps those people could share their experiences with us, in the hope that it might perhaps encourage others to move from being simple collectors, to being slightly less than simple students.

[Jean]

The title of this thread is "The basics of keris understanding". IMO this is a quite ambitious project considering the lack of reliable historical records and many legends and myths about the subject.
Alan made an excellent overview of the practical situation: yes, most of us are just collectors, why?
Because it is very difficult to get a deeper knowledge of the keris without learning the Javanese and other Indonesian cultures and this is quite impossible if you don't live there and have access to an experienced teacher (they virtually disappeared). Even so and having lived in Indonesia, a Westerner would need a very deep effort to switch his rational mind to this complex culture.
About my personal experience: As a kris book author, I have tried to learn whatever materials is available on the subject but admittedtly limiting myself to the kris. I attempted to understand a bit of the Javanese culture by reading a book about Kejawen (Javanese traditional spiritual teaching) but I did not "bite" into it. I also tried to study, understand, and present the tangguh classification of the Javanese blades with the help of Alan, but the result turned to be disappointing to the point that I have decided not to publish my next book at least in the near future.
Regards
Jean

[Jussi M.]

Originally Posted by Jean

The title of this thread is "The basics of keris understanding". IMO this is a quite ambitious project considering the lack of reliable historical records and many legends and myths about the subject.

True. Yet a lot can be accomplished. For example one does not need to transport himself magically onto centuries afar to gain some understanding of the mechanics involved in the actual making process of a keris nor needs one to become a 1700 Javanese to gain some understanding of the importance and the many roles that the keris had in times past, how it evolved and continues to evolve even today.

Learning about history, culture, sociology etc can be enlightening as all this information - because this is how we learn - becomes more or less intentionally contrasted to where you are now, what kind of values you have, how you operate in the world and what are the drivers that motivate and give meaning to you. Thus any honest attempt to understand something a bit better regardless the field taken leads to a bit better understanding of yourself. If this vessel is the keris why should one not take it

Besides what is understanding anyways?

As a personal remark not aimed at anyone in particular, does it really matter where you´ll reach if you enjoy the journey?

Thanks,

J.