New Sunggingan Warangka
 

So thanks to the forum I’ve got bitten by the Keris bug.....😄

I’ve obtained my second Keris about a month ago, and as some of you know I’ve got smitten by Sunggingan Warangka shown in this forum.

Therefore I commissioned one with the following requests:

- Punakawan theme
- Color
- Hilt painted with Semar character

They came back saying that there is not enough space on the hilt to be painted with Semar character, so I said fine just do what you think best.

Here are some photos, it is still 70% completed. Hopefully by next week it will be 100% completed.

Surely it is pale in comparison with those beautiful antique sunggingan warangkas shown in this forum, but I’m quite excited to see the final product.

Your comments are very welcome


Cheers,

Yohan

I'm surprised no one has responded to this post yet. I, for one, really appreciate seeing these step-by-step photos of the process. Very interesting.
I look forward to seeing images of the finished product. :)

This is just a nice art work to me so not much to say.
Regards

Well, I find the map of SE Asia very peculiar. It simply does not belong there. Lots of things we could put there, but a map of SE Asia? Not in my book.

It is half completed work, I'd like to see the completed job before I made any other comment, and maybe I might not like to comment even then.

Hi David,

Yes hopefully it will be completed by the end of this week.

Hi Alan,

I agree with you, I had found the map strange as well, so I asked my friend to ask the dealer who probably ask the artist what does it mean (yes it’s complicated).

The explanation is (at least how I understand it) that it is representing the Javanese philosophy: “Memayu Hayuning Bawana”, which means an effort to safeguard/protect the World (symbolized by the map) physically and spiritually.
It is the duty of the Punakawan to advise the Ksatriyas to protect the World physically and spiritually.

My approach to a comissioned art is that as a client I can state my expectations but the artist should still be free to his/her imaginations/interpretations. In this instance I requested a Punakawan theme and that’s how the artist imagined/interpreted it and I accepted it.

Cheers,

Yohan

Yohan, in my experience, if you ask a Javanese person a question you will usually get an answer that the respondent believes will

A) correspond with your expectations as perceived by the respondent

B) please you

C) serve to enhance your perception of the respondent

you will almost never get an answer that represents, or even comes close to, reality.

In fact, in dealing with Javanese people it is generally a very good idea never to ask a direct question, this can be seen as an indication of the questioner's lack of good manners. To extract relatively realistic responses one needs to approach the matter in an indirect fashion, and this can be quite difficult unless one is face to face with the person one needs an answer from.

However, if you are happy with a map of S.E. Asia on your wrongko, and the related explanation, that is really the only thing that matters.

Yes one can only guess what is the intention of the artist.

Overall I’m quite happy with the final product:

Hi, nice piece you got there. The Punakawan brothers which I believe?
This is mine recently made, Punakawan brothers.

Thanks Anthony, mine also is recently made.

From my basic knowledge of wayang characters, Punakawan consists of 4 characters: Semar (the father) and his 3 sons: Gareng, Petruk and Bagong.

These characters are purely Javanese invention, they did not exist in the original Mahabharata story.

Yours I believe (I might be wrong) are characters from Ramayana, the one in the middle might represents the monkey race (Hanuman, Sugriwa or Subali), the other two on each side may represents the Rakshasa (Giant) race.

Hi, I think you are correct. Thanks for the update :D

Btw, is this god of hell, Yama?

Unfortunately I don’t know, but I’m sure more knowledgeable member in this forum can answer your question