My Bugis keris

[David]

Originally Posted by kai

Thanks for this rare glimpse on a nekkid blade of yours!

Could you add a full view, please? I have to admit that I'm not sure we're looking at a Madurese-made blade here...

Ah, sorry, no, that's all you get this time around i'm afraid.
I am fairly certain that indeed we are not looking at a a Madurese blade. But this thread isn't about this blade and i only posted these portions to venture a general question about the traditions of warangan treatment across the board.

Originally Posted by kai

BTW, I'd expect most decent keris blades from SE Asia to receive more or less sensible warangan treatment nowadays before being offered (locally or internationally); I don't think we can utilize these for judging traditional approaches of local communities anymore (most seem to be done according to Jawanese "tastes").

This is quite possible Kai and you may have noticed that i suggested as much in my post. However, i do maintain a connection with a group of (mostly) Malay collectors and their take seems to be to clean with lime not use warangan. So on the local level i am not convinced the the Javanese methods have taken hold across the entire spectrum of keris bearing cultures.

[Johan van Zyl]

Thank you Jean & Kai, I have taken serious note of your helpful comments and am amplifying my own personal keris dictionary with your help.

One of my remaining questions is about the "gold" mendak/pendokok. I'm not saying it is impossible that my cousin could be mistaken, but I'm now thinking along the lines of "gilded" instead, as a possible explanation for the positive acid test that he reported. Was gilding practised in mid-19th century by the empus? Does the gilded (if that is the case) mendak fit in with the class of this keris, or with the keris-crafting practices of those days?

Secondly, coming to the 7 luk blade, is there any cultural distinction in terms of meaning between luk 3, 5 and 7? I know that wave counts above 7 are seen as special. Does 3, 5 and 7 each have different significance?

Any ideas about the wood type of the hilt and gandar? I myself am tempted to call the hilt kemuning, but I do not have a clue with regards to the gandar.
Cheers
Johan

[David]

Johan, it is indeed quite possible that your pendokok could be gilded or have a gold wash, probably over brass. This is certainly not uncommon for such things.
I would say that it is highly unlikely it is solid gold.
On the meaning of the number of luks, i would say finding a definitive answer there might prove frustrating. Certainly different numbers luks were assigned different meanings or purpose, but from my studies those meanings shift from culture to culture and era to era. So what a 7-luk keris meant to a Bugis from Riau in the 19th century may not be the same as for a Javanese man in the 17th century, and so on.

[Johan van Zyl]

Thanks David. Well, it seems to me this thread is drawing to a close. I still have some questions about my Bugis keris, but there seems not to be many collectors specialising in this type of keris. I am truly indebted to those who have volunteered answers up till now. I have become better informed with regard to my two kerisses, thanks to you all! Perhaps I could just, in parting, try to still get confirmation for my guess that my Bugis keris hilt is made of kemuning wood? But I do not have a clue with regards to the gandar wood.

Johan

[Jean]

Hello Johan,
Yes, the hilt of your kris seems to be made from kemuning, and the gandar (stem) possibly from angsana (pterocarpus indicus). See the Malay Art Gallery site for reference.
Regarding the number of luks, I agree with what David said, the maximum number of luks for standard Javanese dapurs is 13 (not 7), and the Bugis seem to favor the blades with either 7 or 9 luks. The blades with more than 13 luks are called kalawija.
Regards

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes, I know I said I wouldn't comment, and I will not --- on the keris.

This is about the word "kalawija".

Kalawija is a variation of palawija.

In the courts of old Jawa cripples, deformed people, dwarfs and so on were kept as servants and clowns. These people were called "palawija".

The people who were palawija, along with other unusual individuals such as artists and eccentrics were deemed to be the ones who could carry a palawija (kalawija) keris: they were deformed, and in the Old Javanese value system, so was the palawija keris.

The maximum number of luk for a "normal" keris was held to be 13 luk. This of course raises the question of why 13 should be the barrier between normal and not normal.

And that is a whole other story.

[kai]

Sorry, just saw that Jean already answered.

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

And that is a whole other story.

Take a peek here: http://kerisattosanaji.com/INTERPRETATIONPAGE1.html

Regards,
Kai

[Green]

i wonder why mr maisey would not want to comment on the blade whilst he probably had done so on other occasions on non javanese blades ? . it's not for lack of knowledge i am v sure!

as for me, in terms of keris knowledge I'm admittedly somewhere between mt stupid and the valley of despair on the dunning-kruger effect graph (as someone previously posted somehere in this forum before) , however in the interest and benefit of us keris lovers here, I would like to mention the following:-

In April this year I attended a keris exhibition in Bone, Sulawesi. This is the heart of Bugis keris culture and what I noticed was this. Not one blade exhibited (among probably 200 or so ) showed clean shiny surface as the keris owned by Johan here. Admittedly I also have quite a few kerisses that are cleaned as Johan's (and they were ALL bought from western dealers/collectors!).

I managed to purchase one from the exhibition (see pic) and since this one was rusty at the base the seller (who happened to be one of the main organizers of the exhibition) volunteered to clean it for me. And he did so right in front of me simply by using lime juice and rubbing with the thumb and fore finger to get rid of the rust.

He maintined that this is the only method the Bugis clean their blades and Bugis do not warang the blades unlike the Javanese. (Pics below show the cleaned keris with the sheath newly covered with silverwork done in Kelantan Malaysia. The hilt is from kayu kemuning.

[Jean]

Hello Green,
Nice Bugis kris and I am amazed that the blade could be cleaned so easily!
Regards

[kai]

Hello Johan,

Processed woods are often not easy to identify, especially since often burl woods or stunted growth were selected by the carvers for their special features. So take my opinion with a lump of salt...

The hilt would very likely referred to as kemuning in the Malay world. It is (or is supposed to come) from the small tree Murraya paniculata (L.) Jack and usually pieces of burl are selected for hilts. I would not be surprised to see some other burl wood utilized, too; kemuning is widely cultivated and relatively available though (despite good pieces getting rarer).

The default identification for the typical wood utilized for the gandar would be angsana, (ang)sena (Pterocarpus indicus Willd.); the nice chatoyance shown in your example is not a defining character - it depends on the individual piece of wood, how it grew, and how it was cut and surface-treated.

I note that in the keris Bugis book, the apparently same wood is referred to as cenrana = sendana (Santalum album L.): This is the well-known sandal wood (non-fragrant sapwood is not rarely utilized on Jawa for this purpose); IMHO this wood looks and ages differently and I believe this is an error.

Regards,
Kai