Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

David · 3rd September 2013, 04:14 AM

Hi James and welcome to the forum. I am surprised that no one has responded to your post yet, but perhaps i can get some discussion started.
Your keris seems to show some decent execution. Unfortunately it is missing a part called the "gonjo" (often spelled "ganja"). Please see the diagram here:
http://www.kerisattosanaji.com/kerisdiagram.html
The gonjo is the separate piece of the blade that forms an asymmetric guard of sorts at the base of the blade.
The brass hilt cup you have here is obviously too large for the hilt and i would venture that the entire ensemble was a dealer assembly in order to make the piece more sellable. From this one photographic angle am not sure that i can recognize the hilt form. All of this makes it rather difficult to assign any origin for this keris. Given the size of this blade it could be what is called a "patrem", a keris made specifically for a woman, though the proportions of this blade seem a little odd and it is also possible the blade has been cut down from a larger size.

For more information on keris symbolism and possible reasons for different numbered luk blades i would suggest you give this a read:
http://kerisattosanaji.com/INTERPRETATIONPAGE1.html
You are right that the other weapon is not a keris, it is a tombak, a spearhead (probably Javanese) that has been mounted as a dagger. I would suggest that you post this to the main ethnographic forum for discussion as we only discuss keris on this board.

3rd September 2013, 04:14 AM	#2
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,211	Hi James and welcome to the forum. I am surprised that no one has responded to your post yet, but perhaps i can get some discussion started. Your keris seems to show some decent execution. Unfortunately it is missing a part called the "gonjo" (often spelled "ganja"). Please see the diagram here: http://www.kerisattosanaji.com/kerisdiagram.html The gonjo is the separate piece of the blade that forms an asymmetric guard of sorts at the base of the blade. The brass hilt cup you have here is obviously too large for the hilt and i would venture that the entire ensemble was a dealer assembly in order to make the piece more sellable. From this one photographic angle am not sure that i can recognize the hilt form. All of this makes it rather difficult to assign any origin for this keris. Given the size of this blade it could be what is called a "patrem", a keris made specifically for a woman, though the proportions of this blade seem a little odd and it is also possible the blade has been cut down from a larger size. For more information on keris symbolism and possible reasons for different numbered luk blades i would suggest you give this a read: http://kerisattosanaji.com/INTERPRETATIONPAGE1.html You are right that the other weapon is not a keris, it is a tombak, a spearhead (probably Javanese) that has been mounted as a dagger. I would suggest that you post this to the main ethnographic forum for discussion as we only discuss keris on this board.