[A. G. Maisey]

I have been very pressed for time over the last few days, thus I limited my response to Gustav's informative post to just a couple of lines, but the information he has shared with us certainly generates as many questions as it does answers.

I'm going to wander a little bit before I raise any questions, so please bear with me, or if you really don't like reading text, scroll down to START HERE.

The first sunggingan keris that I ever handled was one that I bought in the early 1970's in Solo. It is an old sunggingan, alas-alasan motif, Surakarta ladrangan. I was a bit puzzled by it because I did not at that time understand sunggingans, so I asked the seller for information, and then I followed that info up with several other people.

The consensus of opinion from these Solo people was that sunggingan ornamentation had its origin with the Dutch, yes, the motifs were certainly Javanese and could be found in other Javanese works, such as, for instance, batik, but the idea of the painted ornamentation was supposedly Dutch.

In the years that followed my initial purchase I saw and purchased many other sunggingan keris, and there is a display of sunggingans in the Radya Pustaka Museum. Not only keris are given sunggingan dress, but other tosan aji also, wedung, tombak, pedang. A couple of examples with this post. Style in sunggingan work is almost limitless, it is usually one or another interpretation of a traditional Javanese motif, but examples of a wide range of styles can be found.

Sunggingan work is also applied to furniture and to other household items, it can be found on blawong and ploncon.

I have also seen sunggingan work on furniture in museums, not much of it where I live, but in Europe there is a lot of old furniture that has sunggingan ornamentation.

Up until about 25 years ago if I had been asked for an opinion on the origin of sunggingan ornamentation I would have repeated what I had been told by my Solonese informants, that it was inspired by Dutch contact. Possibly this is correct as far as it goes, the Dutch had a lot of influence on many things Javanese. However, as I learnt more about the ancient past of Jawa, my opinions on this matter of sunggingan origin changed.

Sunggingan work can be found in places in Indonesia where the Dutch did not have a particularly heavy influence, for instance, Bali, and Balinese sunggingan work is very, very different to most Javanese sunggingan work, although some of it seems to have been influenced by Cirebon motifs, and does display distinct Chinese characteristics.

Is this a direct Chinese influence? It may well be, as there are numerous other things that we can identify in Balinese culture that seem to owe something to Chinese influence, or is this Chinese style from North Coast Jawa? I cannot answer this question, but it might be a very good field for somebody to investigate.

But to return to Jawa. Surakarta seems to have had a fondness for sunggingan ornamentation, and the motifs used cover virtually the entire field of motifs that can be found in other Javanese art and craft, but sunggingan work was used in other places as well. I have seen, but do not own, a number of old examples of North Coast sunggingan work, some of this work has been very fine, and does not echo the style of the Central Javanese motifs, but although repetitive, this North Coast style is less ordered that the Central Javanese style, and very often displays a distinct Chinese influence.

Another thing that I have seen in Javanese sunggingan work is a propensity for including animals that are not indigenous to Jawa, included in the relevant motifs. This is in fact very common. I once saw a pre-WWII wrongko that had kangaroos included, and I have seen kangaroos in several current era works. Rabbits also make frequent appearances. In the recent past, say the last 100 years or so, it seems that the philosophy of the sungging artists is art, rather than reality, and this may well have always been true.

START HERE:-
1) Rasdan, the keris that you show in post #15 is European work, I've forgotten the details, but I'm certain that Gustav will know.

2) Gustav, my questions following are not intended to throw even the smallest doubt upon the information that you have provided, but only to better understand the information you have provided:-

A) bearing in mind that the Portuguese did not have much success in establishing a presence on Jawa, do you believe it is reasonable to assume that this keris (post #10) was taken by the Portuguese to Cochin and decorated there?

B) what is the source for identification of the gold on this scabbard as "lacquer" ?

C) I have absolutely no knowledge of the characteristics of Indo/Portuguese style in painted ornamentation, so I have put in some time in trying to find examples of this Indo/Portuguese style, the better to understand the relationship to the style of ornamentation on this scabbard.
This is of interest to me, because elements of what I can see in the ornamentation on this scabbard I have also seen in Javanese sunggingan work.
Perhaps the Javanese work owes its origin to Portuguese work, but since there was no lasting contact with the Portuguese on Jawa, it causes me to wonder just where this influence on Javanese work may have come from.
Certainly the inclusion of hares or rabbits in the motif on the keris scabbard can hardly be indigenous Javanese, but the overall execution of the keris scabbard motif does bear a similarity to some much later Javanese execution.
Is there an online image of the table top that you mention? (Kunstkammer of Kunsthistorisches Museum in Wienna, Inv Nr. 4958). I have searched for one, but have had no success. If you can provide a hardcopy reference that would also be of use.