Keris of Peter the Great
 

Dear All,

perhaps this one deserves his own thread.

Despite the very mysterious description on online collection site of Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, this is Keris Peter the Great brought back to Russia from Netherlands in 1698 and was part of he's Kunstkammer collection. As such it was presented also in a Hermitage exhibition on Peter the Great in Amsterdam in 2013.

http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/p...c+armor/515178

The dimensions of it as given on museums site - total length: 46,0 cm; blade length: 36,6 cm.

It belongs to a small group of very similar Keris. Another one was 1714 presented to Peter the Great's ally, Augustus II the Strong. It's in Dresden, Inv. Nr. 2880.

This group represent one of the pinnacles in history of Keris art.

The Keris in Hermitage is also an important one to me personally, because it was the first one I have seen. I was 10 years old then.

Hello Gustav,

Thanks for sharing the story of this "personal" keris of yours - no wonder that you're aiming to set high standards on things keris... ;)


It's a shame that there seem to be no surviving records of Peter's keris from the Oranje collection (at least that seems to be the most plausible source) - it would be really interesting to establish when it arrived in Europe!

Does the pamor qualify as ngindhen? The upper 2 thirds of the blade seem to exhibit an extensively surface-manipulated mlumah type - the similarity to the pamor in Dresden 2880 is neat!

Regards,
Kai

Hi Gustav. Like Kai i am interested in hearing a bit more about the provenance of this keris. While i do not doubt your attribution, as you have pointed out, the Hermitage exhibition description is not very revealing, does not seem to mention Peter the Great and dates this keris as early 18th century rather than 17th century. Can you tell us the source of your information on it and provide any links to further information? Google searches don't seem to yield much. Thanks.

Hello David,

The connection of this keris with Peter the Great's visit in the Netherlands seems reasonably well established. It is its provenance before this event which would be great to have, too! As with many of the very early keris in European collections, this needs a lot of detective work...

Regards,
Kai

Well, as i pointed out Kai, i was not doubting Gustav's attribution, just hoping for sources where i could personally read more about it for myself. ;)

Thank you Gustav for posting the pictures of this beauty.

The pamor is quite difficult to see but as far as I can see the pattern, it is extraordinary well made.

It's another valuable evidence for my simple theory, that the old blades are the better ones, worldwide! Whether in Japan, Indonesia, Asia or Europe, the old boys knew how to forge a most beautiful and high quality blade!


Roland

Many thanks for posting this one, Gustav!
 

Absolutely beautiful. :)