Quote:
Originally Posted by RobT
Hi All,
Thanks to all for all the input.
When I first saw this piece, it was in the sheath and I thought to myself, what a small and slender Moro kris. Then I saw the blade and realized it was Balinese.
So, what we have here is a Bali blade that has been painted by someone with enough knowledge of Hindu religious belief to choose colors evocative of Siva but without enough knowledge of Balinese culture to know that his paint job was inappropriate. On top of that, we have a hilt from goodness knows where and perhaps made from variously sourced parts but with a selut and tang hole that will fit an Indonesian keris. There’s one thing I would be willing to bet. If the hilt was added in the Southern Philippines, it wasn’t by the same guy that did the painting (unless the colors were chosen for some other and non-Hindu reason). Finally, we have what appears to be a sarong iras with a very badly damaged wranka that somebody thought enough of to modify and then add an inline border to the back side. I would love to see a picture of what the wranka looked like originally because, even with parts missing, it’s bigger than any Balinese wranka I have ever seen. Because it’s so big, I could see someone in the Southern Philippines wishing to repair and keep it. I can see the fabric wrap around the gandar as having been added in the Philippines also.
I am partially leaning toward A. G. Maisey’s advice. I think that someday an appropriate hilt and uwer would be nice but I think I will keep the sheath as is. When I eventually use a heat gun to remove the hilt (or at very least turn it to face properly), I will wrap the blade in a wet towel in an effort to preserve the paint. I know that the things chosen to keep and chosen to change are rather skewed (especially when viewed from the prospective of the original culture) but that’s what I’m thinking I may do someday. I’m in no hurry.
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It might be helpful if we knew the dimensions here. How long is this blade? Is it bigger than the average Bali blade. Obviously a sarung (wrongko) needs to be large enough to house the blade, but i'm not sure why that sarung would be bigger than most unless the blade also is. I'm not sure this is an iras sarung considering that the stem is covered and may be hiding the joint. You say this is fabric? From the photos it appeared to be some kind of tape.
I know that i suggested that the hilt looked like something that may have been made in the Philippines and it still does to me. But regarding your desire to preserve the black and red paint, how likely is it for someone in the Philippines to want to add Hindu symbolism to this adapted keris. The Hindu population in the Philippines is rather small, largely confined to the Indian Filipinos and the expatriate Indian community. I'm not sure that just because this is a Balinese blade that we can assume it was adapted to this dress by a Hindu. Still, i understand that you want to preserve the pigment. If i were to restore this blade i would be more focussed on staining it to bring out the pamor than saving these pigments. But i respect that you would rather save this aspect. But i believe you will find that wrapping the blade in a wet towel to protect the colours will work to your disadvantage while trying to remove the hilt with heat. It is the blade that needs to heat up to soften the adhesive and i would think a wet towel around the blade would make getting it to a high enough temperature a problem. Perhaps there is some other way to protect the paint.