Thanks for your further explanation Ganjawulung. You had me a little bit confused there for a moment.
Yes, Pak Pauzan is pretty much out of the game now; he had some health problems a few years back, and as a consequence changed his life-style. That keris dapur gumbeng carries the pamor Poleng Wengkon, which was the design of Mr. Dietrich Drescher. A keris of this design and pamor, and named Kiyahi Sureng Karya was presented to Bapak Menko Polkam H. Surono.During his working life, Pak Pauzan made a very wide range of keris styles and pamors, and often worked in the style of Mataram. He created some incredibly beautiful keris naga.
When I mentioned dealers, I was in no way referring to any makers, part-time makers , or anybody who is or was in any way associated with making. I was referring to people, in fact one in particular, who are exclusively dealers and who operated, and still operate in some cases, principally in the western world.
Oh yes David, some of the recent flights of fancy of Madurese carvers are wee bit extreme, but it really gets back to the buyer:- if the buyer is prepared to pay solid money, and can appreciate good craftsmanship, he can obtain excellent quality new work; if he is not prepared to pay the price of excellent work, and cannot differentiate between good craftsmanship, and pedestrian craftsmanship, then he will finish up with lesser pieces.
When I selected these handles to photograph, I deliberately chose very ordinary handles. Yes, the ivory ones are superior, but the wooden ones are ordinary, and would only command ordinary prices, whether old or new.It comes back to the buyer's ability to recognise craftsmanship.When people stop buying second rate doodleings of children, then we can expect to see an increase in the quality of the items being offered.
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