Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 26th April 2022, 11:37 PM

David, I've posted a pic 20 odd hilts.

Some have the full bulbous base (bungkul), some do not, these "do not" ones have that base similar to yours.

I don't know why, but my feeling is that it is stylistic variation, possibly dictated by available material, possibly because of a need to match proportion to a wrongko.

Or it could be because of damage to the base, but I don't think so. There are too many of these truncated base hilts floating around.

Yes, a lot of the truncated base ones have a fairly indistinct bungkul & it has been carved, also I have a few smaller ones that are on keris that do not have the bungkul.

I lean to stylistic variation.

26th April 2022, 11:37 PM	#2
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,085	David, I've posted a pic 20 odd hilts. Some have the full bulbous base (bungkul), some do not, these "do not" ones have that base similar to yours. I don't know why, but my feeling is that it is stylistic variation, possibly dictated by available material, possibly because of a need to match proportion to a wrongko. Or it could be because of damage to the base, but I don't think so. There are too many of these truncated base hilts floating around. Yes, a lot of the truncated base ones have a fairly indistinct bungkul & it has been carved, also I have a few smaller ones that are on keris that do not have the bungkul. I lean to stylistic variation.