Stylistically this handle of Michael's fits squarely into the Madura janggelan parameters, but saying "Madura" can also extend its origin to North Coast Jawa adjacent to Madura.
If you look at enough of these handles, and then compare them with the donoriko, what you can see is that the top of the janggelan, what we'd call a pommel on a European hilt, is in fact done in a way that follows the form of the donoriko, but because of the restrictions of the material, it is miniaturised, additionally, because the material does not permit full expression of the donoriko form, you find that the curled over part will very often have some sort head or face in it, often a bird's head.
I've got two very old ivory handles that have pretty much the same form as Michael's, the details are different, but then the details in many old handles are different. I pulled out 8 or 10 handles last night that to my eye show a relationship in artistic expression that flows from the nicely rounded form of Michael's, and my two similar ones, to a similar idea, but expressed in a much flatter way, dictated by the carver's use of the side of a tusk, rather than solid material. This is fairly easy to see with them all lined up together, and able to be held and turned, but I can't see how I can photograph them to demonstrate it. I'll give this some thought, and if I can work out how to get the relationship across I'll do some pics and post them.
I've seen present day carvers, of very high skill levels, working often. Where they have freedom to move in a design, they will always follow what the material tells them needs to be done to it. A couple have told me that the finished carving is already there in the material, all they do is to release it.
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