View Single Post
Old 11th February 2014, 08:35 PM   #3
A. G. Maisey
Member
 
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 6,697
Default

The finish on the blade does tend to be the sort of thing we could expect to see coming from Lombok rather than Bali.

On a Jawa keris. I'd call this pamor "banyu tetes" :- dripping water, but on a Bali keris, I don't know what its called. Lalu Djelenga doesn't list it in his pamor section, and Djelenga is the reference I turn to when I don't know something about Bali and Lombok keris. Some might call it "bendo sagodo", some might call it "tritik", some might call it "uler lulut", some might even call it "santa". It is a surface manipulated pamor, and the difference between any of these named patterns is only one of degree.

As for the wrongko, there is something that is not widely understood about keris scabbards.

We often hear that a "wrongko was not made for the blade". This is a usual comment when there is anything other than a perfectly mated fit between the gonjo and the mouth of the scabbard. In fact, this criterion is not valid to apply to the overall authenticity of a keris.

With most keris of better than ordinary quality that have been dressed since WWII it is probably reasonable to expect that the gonjo should be perfectly mated to the wood, with due allowance for wear or distortion caused by age and the natural properties of the wood.

However, even with these keris there is the exception that the older style of fitting will be used, where all or part of the gonjo sits above the top of the scabbard, clear of the wood. This is often seen in Peninsula keris, but it also occurs in keris from other areas, especially Bali.This older style of fitting is obviously fairly often met with in keris that have been dressed a long time ago.

Then there is the fact that wrongkos for Jawa keris and Bali keris are produced in bulk and sold in the markets separate to the keris itself. When the job of fitting a keris to a new already made wrongko is given to a mranggi the end result is nearly always perfect fit and it looks as if the wrongko has in fact been made for the keris. However, when the owner of the keris, or a salesman does the fitting, the result is frequently less than perfect.

The best result of keris to wrongko fit is without question when the wrongko is in fact made for the specific keris, however, the cost of a bespoke wrongko of any quality is vastly more than a wrongko bought in the market and made to fit. Bit like the difference between a suit from a department store, and a suit from a tailor.

Very seldom is a blade of ordinary quality or below given bespoke dress. It is simply throwing money away, because the end value of that keris may not even equal the cost of the scabbard. Good quality keris dress is very, very expensive.

But this raises another exception to the rule:- an old scabbard of better than ordinary quality will frequently be fitted to a blade that it was not made for, ideally the re-fit will be used on a blade that has a larger gonjo than the original keris that used the scabbard, but if the scabbard is sufficiently valuable it will be given an inlay of wood to permit any size blade to be comfortably fitted.

In the case of the keris under discussion, it is certain that this scabbard has been bought in the market and fitted to this keris, but it was very probably new when it was bought, not recycled from a different keris.
A. G. Maisey is offline   Reply With Quote