Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Jean · 31st August 2015, 04:30 PM

Alan,
Thank you for introducing this very fascinating subject!
I would summarize my opinion as follows and will develop it later:

1. First I would note that the Majapahit period extended over more than 2 centuries and it is likely that the krisses changed a lot during this "golden age" period, i.e that the krisses from the early period were very different from those from the late one.

2. I don't know what the krisses from the Majapahit period looked like as to my knowledge no specimen with proven provenance (royal regalia, museum pieces, etc) was ever identified with a good certainty, except maybe the kris from Knaud. All the krisses depicted on the East Java temples dating from this period are still of the early "leaf" type. The amulet or "sajen" krisses which are called Majapahit krisses by some authors have no proven link with the Majapahit period.

3. The supposed features of the krisses attributed to Majapahit are described in the Javanese tangguh classification basically as follows:
The pawakan/ pasikutan looks eerie and gives a deft impression, the iron is "melted" and looks dry, the pamor is strong and deeply buried into the blade, the shape of the blade is more slender toward the tip and it looks pointed, the waves are quite widely spaced, the gandik is slanted and rather short, the pejetan is boto adeg "brick standing-up", the front of the ganja and the sogokan are short and smooth. In brief, a very elaborate and fully modern kris!

4. After the collapse of Majapahit, the empus are said to have moved to Bali and West Java (Pajajaran) and continued to make krisses in the Majapahit style. From the end of 16th and during the 17th century, some high krisses were brought to Europe from Banten (West Java) and Cirebon. These krisses look similar to the strong balinese krisses which we know, but not at all to those attributed to tangguh Majapahit. It may therefore be interpreted that the krisses from the late Majapahit period were similar to the krisses brought from Banten to Europe during the late 16th and 17th centuries.
Regards

31st August 2015, 04:30 PM	#3
Jean Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 1,740	Alan, Thank you for introducing this very fascinating subject! I would summarize my opinion as follows and will develop it later: 1. First I would note that the Majapahit period extended over more than 2 centuries and it is likely that the krisses changed a lot during this "golden age" period, i.e that the krisses from the early period were very different from those from the late one. 2. I don't know what the krisses from the Majapahit period looked like as to my knowledge no specimen with proven provenance (royal regalia, museum pieces, etc) was ever identified with a good certainty, except maybe the kris from Knaud. All the krisses depicted on the East Java temples dating from this period are still of the early "leaf" type. The amulet or "sajen" krisses which are called Majapahit krisses by some authors have no proven link with the Majapahit period. 3. The supposed features of the krisses attributed to Majapahit are described in the Javanese tangguh classification basically as follows: The pawakan/ pasikutan looks eerie and gives a deft impression, the iron is "melted" and looks dry, the pamor is strong and deeply buried into the blade, the shape of the blade is more slender toward the tip and it looks pointed, the waves are quite widely spaced, the gandik is slanted and rather short, the pejetan is boto adeg "brick standing-up", the front of the ganja and the sogokan are short and smooth. In brief, a very elaborate and fully modern kris! 4. After the collapse of Majapahit, the empus are said to have moved to Bali and West Java (Pajajaran) and continued to make krisses in the Majapahit style. From the end of 16th and during the 17th century, some high krisses were brought to Europe from Banten (West Java) and Cirebon. These krisses look similar to the strong balinese krisses which we know, but not at all to those attributed to tangguh Majapahit. It may therefore be interpreted that the krisses from the late Majapahit period were similar to the krisses brought from Banten to Europe during the late 16th and 17th centuries. Regards Last edited by Jean; 31st August 2015 at 05:22 PM.