[A. G. Maisey]

The empus in Magetan were known as the Mageti line.

The Mageti line stared with Ki Guno Sasmito Utomo who supposedly was descended from Empu Supo, I think he was about the 13th or 14th in line of descent from Mpu Supo. Ki Guno was reputed to have made a keris for Pangeran Diponegoro.

After Ki Guno the second Empu Mageti was Imam Mustofa,; the third Empu Mageti was Imam Panani (or Panini?).

Then there was Empu Paku Rodji who died in 2011. Empu Paku Rodji was the fourth Empu Mageti and had been recognised as an empu since 1974.

To put things into context, Empu Supo lived in the time of legend, Majapahit, and the dates are very difficult to reconcile. Some believe that Empu Supo was not one man, but several.

Pangeran Diponegoro was born towards the end of the 18th century, died in the middle of the 19th century.

Empu Djeno Harumbrojo also claimed descent from Empu Supo.

The claimed lines of descent of empus are not necessarily to be understood as blood lines, but in many cases as spiritual lines of descent.

There was a hiatus in keris production in Jawa from around 1930 through to the revival that began with Dietrich Drescher encouraging production of a keris from the three sons of Empu Supowinangun:- Djeno Harumbrojo, Yosopangarso, and Genyodiharso. These men were working as ordinary smiths at the time they were contacted by Dietrich Drescher, but they remembered their father (Empu Supowinangun) had repaired keris.

After Empu Djeno began to make keris, Empu Paku Rodji, that is Empu Mageti IV, began to make keris also, and that probably happened in 1974, or shortly before 1974.

Prior to the Treaty of Giyanti (1755) and the division of Jawa, Magetan had been a territory that owed allegiance to Mataram, but when the Mataram state was split between Ngayogakarta and Surakarta, the Regency (Kabupaten) of Magetan became the responsibility of Ngayogyakarta, even though logically Magetan should have been associated with Surakarta, because of proximity and the siting of ancient monuments that were associated with Surakarta and with Magetan.

Because of this dual influence, keris style of the Mageti line is somewhere between Jogja and Solo, it seems to fall between the Mataram style associated with Ngayogyakarta and the Majapahit style associated with Surakarta.

I have never handled a keris that is attributed to the Mageti line of empus, I only know the work of Empu Paku Rodji by reputation and description, plus a few rather less than good photos. However, my feeling is that Gustav could well be correct in linking Bejo's keris with Magetan. If we look closely at Bejo's keris it has one very badly cut ron dha that is more like Surakarta than Jogja, but then the other ron dha is more like Jogja than Surakarta, and the blumbangan is not Surakarta, but Mataram, pawakan is closer to Surakarta, but the mixed ron dhas and the blumbangan distance it from Surakarta. When I first looked at this I thought maybe Godean--- which equates to Jogja influence.

If we look at Gustav's example we can see a couple of really badly cut Surakarta ron dhas, and the same method of fixing the pesi as was used in Bejo's keris.

Magetan is right on the border between Central Jawa and East Jawa, and it is closer to Solo than Jogja, yes, East Jawa, but the people there lean to Jawa Tengah, not Jawa Timur. Magetan had Mataram roots, rather than Ngayogyakarta roots, but after Giyanti it became Mancanegara of Ngayogyakarta.

I do not believe that these two keris are from the same maker, but I do feel that they are both productions of an Empi Mageti, which one I have no idea, but again, just a feeling, I think Gustav's example is possibly Empu Paku Rodji, based upon what I have heard.

Gustav, you say "Surely not Magetan", but I think it could be. What do you know about this keris you have posted images of Gustav?

EDIT:- THE TANGGUH THOUGHT PROCESS

It has occurred to me that some people who read this may find additional information that relates to the process of classifying a keris (tangguh),useful, and these two keris are in my opinion pretty good examples to illustrate the thought process.

Never forget:- "tangguh" is an opinion , others can have different opinions, and the same person can have different opinions at different times.

Bejo's keris displays a lot of Surakarta characteristics:- it is a large, strong keris, it has a full length ada-ada, the gonjo from the side seems to be very close to Surakarta, the kruwingan and especially the tikel alis are like Surakarta, there is a kusen (gusen), however, the greneng is uncontrolled it mixes ron dha types and neither of those types are well cut, in fact they are very poor, the blumbangan appears to be square, the overall standard of finish is poor. These negative features do not permit it to be classified as Surakarta.

The tangguh system was initiated by Surakarta nobles, thus any keris that is to be given a Surakarta classification must display a noble standard of work:- pride does not permit somebody from Surakarta who understands tangguh to admit that any Surakarta work could be less than excellent, tangguh is not just about aligning a set of characteristics, it is about other things as well, things like belief and honour. The most highly regarded tangguh classifications are those which are associated with eras or places that Javanese people believe hold an honourable value.

Bejo's keris has a square blumbangan and one ron dha is closer to a Mataram (Jogja) pattern than to a Surakarta pattern, combined with the negative features, this is sufficient to place Bejo's keris as Jogja. Jogja tangguh is pretty much a generic classification, within Jogja there are a number of sub-classifications such as HB (Hamengkubuwanaan, the best), through Koripan and Godean and a couple of others. One of those others is not Magetan, the reasons for this are buried in history, Magetan is on the border between Central Jawa and East Jawa, and historically probably aligned itself with Solo, but after Giyanti it became a territory that was the responsibility of Jogja, thus the confusion in style.

Now, if we look at the keris that Gustav has provided as an example, there are a lot of similarities to Bejo's keris, the most notable similarity is the way the gonjo is fixed, this sort of fixing method is normally used as a repair technique, but in these two keris it looks like it was done as original. Why? My guess is that the hole was not precision drilled, or punched and then filed to size, but it was rough punched and the collar used to take up the slack. Both keris must come from the same school.

The greneng, ron dha, tungkakan, kruwingan, ada-ada in Gustav's keris is of the same overall style as Surakarta, the tungkakan --- which can be difficult to cut --- is a neat fit, the greneng is the same style as Bejo's keris, but the two ron dha are very much towards Surakarta, not Jogja at all, however, they are incredibly badly cut. The blumbangan is square, pawakan is adequate for Surakarta. Gustav has said that this keris is unfinished, in my opinion, no, it is not. According to what I have been told, this is the standard of work that we can expect to see for Magetan. It is a perfectly functional keris, but it is most certainly no work of art.

So if we give Bejo's keris as "Jogja" --- a classification that I am now inclined to think borders on unsupportable, and we disallow Gustav's keris as Surakarta because of the quality of workmanship and blumbangan what are we left with?

It must be a classification that displays Central Javanese characteristics, that includes stylistic expression that is mixed and workmanship (garap) that is of very low quality. I am now inclined to believe that both these keris could be tangguh Magetan.

There are a lot of minor classifications like this --- Matesih, Kajoran, Godean, Madiun --- some people disallow them as proper tangguhs on the basis that the quality does not reflect what should be seen in a good keris, and there is no nobility attached to these places, however, the way tangguh is used right now, I personally think it is probably legitimate to use these other minor tangguhs.

Stylistically there is nothing of East Jawa in these keris, even though Magetan is now administratively a part of East Jawa, both these keris are stylistically Jawa Tengah.