Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - A Cirebon (put-together) keris

A. G. Maisey · 17th December 2008, 10:25 PM

Kai Wee, you ask:-

"If it has a selut, does it still need a mendak?"

This is probably a good question.

In present day terms, the answer is definitely "yes".

However, the couple of 100% original Cirebon keris I have both came without mendak, but with iron selut.

There were iron mendak, and I suspect that complete, correct dress would be with an iron mendak, however, on the other hand, many old, 100% original, un-played with keris that I have had in my hands from East Jawa and from Bali/Lombok, did not have mendak or wewer.

I suspect that it is possible that the dress convention of the mendak is a comparatively recent one, that was not always followed, especially on lower level pieces, in earlier days.

17th December 2008, 10:25 PM	#6
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,085	Kai Wee, you ask:- "If it has a selut, does it still need a mendak?" This is probably a good question. In present day terms, the answer is definitely "yes". However, the couple of 100% original Cirebon keris I have both came without mendak, but with iron selut. There were iron mendak, and I suspect that complete, correct dress would be with an iron mendak, however, on the other hand, many old, 100% original, un-played with keris that I have had in my hands from East Jawa and from Bali/Lombok, did not have mendak or wewer. I suspect that it is possible that the dress convention of the mendak is a comparatively recent one, that was not always followed, especially on lower level pieces, in earlier days.