Quote:
|
Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey
This keris under discussion here is not really a very old keris, so what I have just written does not apply to it, but in general terms, and stretching back into time, it is not at all uncommon to see both blades and dress components mixed.
|
I certainly have no argument with anything that Alan has said here, but feel it is important to emphasize this last sentence since, after all, it is THIS keris that Marius has brought to us and asked questions about.
I do really like this blade Marius and yes, i believe it is of the contemporary era. Malaysian keris are not my forte, but since a couple of others have chimed in that they feel the tajong hilt on this keris is relative new and not carved by a Malaysian i will tend to agree with my first suspicion. While Alan is completely correct about how and why various mixed dress keris have come into being over the centuries, i believe what we have here is a relatively new ensemble that has simply been dressed in a mix of relatively new parts that very possibly were all made in Jawa. I think that is quite a different thing from the scenario that Alan has described for keris that have actually seen a societal life in places isolated from centers of keraton power.
One thing i have noted with modern era keris making is a tendency to homogenized keris form across the archipelago. I have seen many new blades that mix elements for different areas of keris making and it is becoming more difficult with some of these new forms to easily identify their place of origin. Frankly i find this a bit sad, but maybe that is just me. I suppose when this keris was assembled that they saw nothing wrong with placing a blade with many Javanese indicators into a sheath that is somewhat Palembang with a hilt that is clearly meant to be a Malaysian form. I know a lot of Malaysian collectors who would particularly scream over this since the tajong form is rather specific to both the type of sheath and blade that it belongs with. And many of them are not too fond of Javanese and Madurese made copies of their traditional Malay hilt form.
All this said, this is your keris now and you should dress it as you will and see fit. For my own personal sensibilities i would probably swap out the tajong hilt for something more appropriate for the keris panjang form as i already showed since that is a pretty easy "fix". But i don't thing anyone would blame you for keeping it as is. It's still a beautiful keris in my eyes.
