Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 28th February 2018, 08:24 PM

I'm pretty much with David on this keris. In short:- I do not know with any certainty where it originated.

Comments on component parts:-

Hilt:- East Jawa/ Madura
Mendak:- East Jawa/Madura
Gambar:- not the work of a tukang wrongko --- incorrect grain orientation; stylistically it can be associated with Tegal and with Lombok. Absolutely no idea where it was made.
Silver (?) work on scabbard is outside keris tradition but stylistically perhaps Sumatera or Peninsula
Blade is stylistically Bali.

In respect of the pattern of blade corrosion.

This raises no questions at all with me. The edges of the blade are steel, where this steel is hardened the corrosion pattern will accelerate, what I believe I can see in these edges is a typical pattern.

The body of the blade is iron + nickel, this corrodes much more slowly than heat treated steel, I expect to see a different and much milder corrosion pattern in these areas.

Keris blades are normally only heat treated for a part of the way up the blade, this is a design feature used to prevent breakage, the keris is used to thrust, the cut is secondary, so only the tip of the blade needs to be hardened. In a Javanese blade the furthest up the blade the hardening goes is the tip of the sogokan, or its equivalent position where there is no sogokan; in many areas only the first couple of inches of the blade are hardened.

The blade only I think could originate from Klungkung, Kusamba, pre-puputan.

My guess, I emphasise "guess", is that this is a dealer's montage, very possibly put together in Singapore.

28th February 2018, 08:24 PM	#3
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,697	I'm pretty much with David on this keris. In short:- I do not know with any certainty where it originated. Comments on component parts:- Hilt:- East Jawa/ Madura Mendak:- East Jawa/Madura Gambar:- not the work of a tukang wrongko --- incorrect grain orientation; stylistically it can be associated with Tegal and with Lombok. Absolutely no idea where it was made. Silver (?) work on scabbard is outside keris tradition but stylistically perhaps Sumatera or Peninsula Blade is stylistically Bali. In respect of the pattern of blade corrosion. This raises no questions at all with me. The edges of the blade are steel, where this steel is hardened the corrosion pattern will accelerate, what I believe I can see in these edges is a typical pattern. The body of the blade is iron + nickel, this corrodes much more slowly than heat treated steel, I expect to see a different and much milder corrosion pattern in these areas. Keris blades are normally only heat treated for a part of the way up the blade, this is a design feature used to prevent breakage, the keris is used to thrust, the cut is secondary, so only the tip of the blade needs to be hardened. In a Javanese blade the furthest up the blade the hardening goes is the tip of the sogokan, or its equivalent position where there is no sogokan; in many areas only the first couple of inches of the blade are hardened. The blade only I think could originate from Klungkung, Kusamba, pre-puputan. My guess, I emphasise "guess", is that this is a dealer's montage, very possibly put together in Singapore.