Seeking Help in Identifyling Keris

[G. Mansfield]

A few years ago I picked up a group of weapons at auction. The sole reason for purchasing was to win an African sword. The other two swords were from Indonesia. I think they may be worth finding more about. Here is one of them that I would like some help in identifying properly as I have very little knowledge on weapons from Southeast Asia.

What I do know…this keris was deaccessioned from the Valentine Museum in Richmond, Virginia. There is a red painted accession number on the ganja “15.5.17” presuming that it had entered the museum’s curation in 1915, so at least this old. There was no sheath included with it. The blade is wavy in form which I believe looks to be 9 luk. There is a nice pamor throughout, with some chips to the edges, especially near the point. Strong blade profile. The handle hardwood with 7 flat planar sides and with two carvings on the interior of the hilt. I have read that this type may be (Solo?) from Central Java or Surakarta and cecekan style and may have association with demon symbolism in the carvings? The mendaq and cuff are silver or silver alloy (Not tested). Dimensions: Blade: 14 ½” (36,3cm) Hilt & Balde: 18 ½” (47cm)

Is there a specific name for this type of Keris or attribution? I am not sure on age but the blade looks to be older. Not sure if it was remounted or not. It has been sitting in my curio for the past few years and I am eager to find out more about it. Any information would help and point me into a direction to learn more.

-Geoffrey

[G. Mansfield]

A few more Photos...

[David]

Well that's a nice old soldier. I think it is safe to say that it is much older than the acquisition date. It has, of course, seen better days, but to my eye this is a blade that was forged to a fairly high standard. Unfortunately erosion has taken away some of the finer details, but i see a blade that once revealed very well tooled ricikan and it still presents itself with a sense of balance and harmony. It presents a strong, well formed sogokan, tikel alis and ada-ada. Unfortunately it has lost material at the end of the gonjo and it is difficult to say if it ever had greneng. I count 10 luk, but you can be sure that once there were 11 as there is some blade loss at the tip. I believe it is indeed a pamored blade, though i would stop short of calling it "nice" in it's current condition and the pamor pattern is pretty hard to read. That might change if the blade were to be properly cleaned and restained.
The planar hilt has a rather unique style of cecekan. While the over all style of the hilt is indeed Surakarta, this is not the average style of cecekan to be found on such hilts. I don't, however, thing the cecekan is intended to represent a demon. I would love to hear someone more knowledgable on this style of cecekan chime in on this discussion. Regardless, it is a very nicely carved hilt. If the selut and mendhak (if they can be called that) are indeed silver i believe you might be able to tell simply by polishing it up a little. There is no crime in polishing silver and gold fittings as they were never intended to be left to tarnish. Silver will respond to cleaning in ways the mamas and other white metals do not in most cases. Though, of course, there are relatively inexpensive tests to determine this for sure.
I am pretty bad at tangguh and guessing ages. I would venture that this keris is not quite as old as Mojopahit era, though possibly for some time in the Mataram period. So 17th century might be a fair place to put this in. The hilt and "selut/mendhak" a bit later perhaps. I'm not sure this "selut/mendhak" is actually proper for Javanese keris. Is it all one piece or two separate pieces. It appears more Malay to me and seems oversized for the hilt.
Still a nice and interesting collection.

[A. G. Maisey]

More or less agreed.

Blade can be classified as a generic Mataram style, yes, it was 11 luk.

The cecekan or patra --- the hilt carvings --- seem to be generally agreed as residual demonic faces, this planar hilt style originated in the Islamic enclaves of the North Coast & were originally the prerogative of princes.

I am inclined to think that this keris was perhaps last worn in East Jawa, maybe along the coast.

[milandro]

I think this was coated with some black coating, perhaps, lacquer.

I have come across this a few times but not as " bad " as this one before. If the kris were mine I would certainly attempt to clean and subsequently I would have it stained.

The cleaning may involve more or less drastic methods which won't damage the blade. But may damage the date, in red, so, depending on how important , for you, that is.

one MAY use a chemical to strip the lacquer. That shouldn't damage the blade , provided you don't leave the paint stripper too long.

If it were mine , I would not care of the date and would , first of all, try to boil the blade in salty water and then after 30 or so minutes, start using a brush with hard plastic bristles to remove the black paint.

The paint is certainly not a new very hard to remove epoxy paint and will probably respond very well to the boiling. Boiling cannot damage blade . Of courser the Hilt can and should be removed.

[G. Mansfield]

Thanks everyone for your information and input. I have researched more on some of the terminology regarding parts of a keris and blade, along with this style of this blade and hilt. I now have a slightly better understanding and a greater appreciation for his keris which had little attention given to it up until now.

After a closer look…the selut / mendak are not silver but a white metal, probably a mixture of a different alloys. They are two separate pieces but the “mendak” is attached through bent taps clamping the “selut” with it. The wood hilt is lined with a very old brittle fabric, possibly used as a spacer. The blade is also in fact covered with a black coating which I had not noticed before, very nice eye! This is confirmed by rubbing the bottom of the ganja and finding the black residue flake off. I am assuming it was applied by the museum to prevent further deterioration of the blade, as it seems quite old and somewhat brittle in areas. I have not decided if I am going to restore the blade or leave it be as I have never done so before. After boiling the blade as stated, what is recommended for the stain? I want to make sure that the blade stays stable and does not lose its integrity and to see if any pattern is present and to preserve it if I choose to do so.

[kai]

try to boil the blade in salty water and then after 30 or so minutes, start using a brush with hard plastic bristles to remove the black paint.

No, salt will be very tough to remove completely from keris blades which can be quite porous: Any chloride traces left will greatly foster rust development!

There is a reason why marine archeology of metals employs very specialized preservation methods that literally take years to complete!

Regards,
Kai