I was lucky to be able to visit this exhibition on short notice - thanks heaps to Günther Heckmann for opening the doors and showing me around!
IMHO it is a small but really nice exhibition on a topic - keris Bali (including Lombok) - that has not received a lot of international attention lately. If you have access to leading musea (Leiden, Jakarta, etc.) including their non-public research collections, you may not have to see this exhibition; however, I believe most of us will discover a special piece making a trip worthwhile. Moreover, the exhibit is exclusively based on keris from private collections and many pieces won't show up again in the public realm for a long time! For those not able to make it, all pieces are included in the catalog (a few blades not shown though).
Quality of the keris ranges from about average to high end examples, including some really special, exceptional, or possibly unique pieces. A few blades seem to be really old with most being antique and some probably from the first half of the 20th century (at least one is still under research). This is quite a contrast to Pak Suteja's well-known publications featuring a lot of keris karmadikan (for understandable and perfectly legit reasons).
Also the old fittings exhibited are really diverse and show the inclusive nature of Balinese culture as well as its influence on neighbouring areas (Lombok, eastern Java, Madura). Again a very nice selection (vs. comprehensive coverage as this would be impossible to achieve for a small, privately funded foundation with limited exhibition space).
I hope others will be able to make it there and chime in with their impressions, too!
Regards,
Kai
All pics courtesy and copyright of IFICAH 2016
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