Meaning in a Balinese keris

[A. G. Maisey]

Keris ligan is also known as "Keris Pedang", it is a form of keris with a warrior association.

The first time I saw a similar treatment of the greneng to this one was in Mario & Vanna Ghiringhelli's Little Red Book --- the original "Invincible Keris". This keris was a cengkrong style and the caption stated that keris with this blade style, ie, cengkrong, was worn by preachers & scholars of religion & theology.

Note:- blade type, not gonjo type

The first time I saw a keris with this extremely exuberant spiral ornamentation to the greneng was in the courtyard of a very well known Balinese m'ranggi and keris dealer, it was a recently made Madura keris, and it was hanging from the exposed framework of a small pavilion. When I asked why it was hanging there, along with a large number of other newly made keris I was told that all these keris were there to permit them to age naturally.

I have not seen this type of gonjo ornamentation in an old keris, only in recently made ones.

[Anthony G.]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

Keris ligan is also known as "Keris Pedang", it is a form of keris with a warrior association.

The first time I saw a similar treatment of the greneng to this one was in Mario & Vanna Ghiringhelli's Little Red Book --- the original "Invincible Keris". This keris was a cengkrong style and the caption stated that keris with this blade style, ie, cengkrong, was worn by preachers & scholars of religion & theology.

Note:- blade type, not gonjo type

The first time I saw a keris with this extremely exuberant spiral ornamentation to the greneng was in the courtyard of a very well known Balinese m'ranggi and keris dealer, it was a recently made Madura keris, and it was hanging from the exposed framework of a small pavilion. When I asked why it was hanging there, along with a large number of other newly made keris I was told that all these keris were there to permit them to age naturally.

I have not seen this type of gonjo ornamentation in an old keris, only in recently made ones.

Thanks Alan for sharing. I am clear now about my doubts. Cheerios.

[Jean]

Thank you Alan, and I attach the pic of the kris in question from Mario & Vanna G.
Ha ha, RIP Wayan Ritug! I agree with you that the kris from Anthony is most probably a recent creation.

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

The first time I saw a similar treatment of the greneng to this one was in Mario & Vanna Ghiringhelli's Little Red Book --- the original "Invincible Keris". This keris was a cengkrong style and the caption stated that keris with this blade style, ie, cengkrong, was worn by preachers & scholars of religion & theology....
I have not seen this type of gonjo ornamentation in an old keris, only in recently made ones.

Alan, i suspect you may indeed have seen this greneng treatment before that and forgotten, on page 73 in David van Duuren's book The Kris. I suspect you have this book and i am fairly certain it came out well before the Little Red Book.
While it is difficult to be sure of a single image printed in a text it seem most likely that the keris shown in van Duuren's book is indeed at least 19th century.

[David]

Here is the example from van Duuren's book The Kris.

[A. G. Maisey]

David, David van Duuren published two editions of the "The Kris", the first was a Dutch edition published in 1996, the second was the English edition published in 1998. The keris on P.73 of the English edition is a cengkrong with the spiral, and yes, I had forgotten it. But it did come after Mario & Vanna's similar one.

Vanna Ghiringhelli published "The Invincible Krises 2" in 2007.

But in 1991 Vanna & Mario published The Little Red Book:- "Kris Gli Invincibili" ('Kris the Invincible'), the similar one I mentioned is on P.41.

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

David, David van Duuren published two editions of the "The Kris", the first was a Dutch edition published in 1996, the second was the English edition published in 1998. The keris on P.73 of the English edition is a cengkrong with the spiral, and yes, I had forgotten it. But it did come after Mario & Vanna's similar one.

Vanna Ghiringhelli published "The Invincible Krises 2" in 2007.

But in 1991 Vanna & Mario published The Little Red Book:- "Kris Gli Invincibili" ('Kris the Invincible'), the similar one I mentioned is on P.41.

Thanks Alan. I have "The Little Red Book", but i never looked at the publishing date and i got van Duuren's book much earlier so i guess i wrongly assumed it was the older book.
But what do you think of the age of the example in van Duuren? It seems very possible to me that it is an antique example, no?

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes David, certainly David van Duuren's example has some age, it has a collection number, and I tried to access it, but it looks as if there is a problem with access at the moment.

[Gustav]

It was donated to the Tropenmuseum in 1952.

There is a Balinese Keris with the same type of Gonjo depicted on Jasper&Mas Pirngadie, Vol. V, p. 229, Fig. 323. The Volume was published in 1930, but the materials for it were collected already before 1920.

We encounter the idea of such Gonjo also on a Javanese Pedang with Gonjo, which is certainly antique and a heirloom.

[A. G. Maisey]

Thanks for that Gustav.

It would be nice to know when that Troppenmuseum example was collected, and when the Jasper & Pirngadie example was collected. As I said, I have yet to see this gonjo treatment on an old keris, and these two additional examples are also recent.

I wonder if there might be some genuinely old examples somewhere.

Gustav, do you have a picture of the pedang you mention?