Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 5th April 2019, 10:08 PM

I'd have no problem at all in accepting this pendok as suitable for East Jawa dress, however, even though Madura is a part of East Jawa, and even though a pendok of this type could be used on a Madura keris, it could not really be thought of as a Madura pendok, which means --- I think --- that if we came across this complete keris without knowledge of its provenance we would be in a similar position to the one that I'm in with the keris I put up for comment, and in all honesty, this is the reality of keris collecting and of keris wear, on the ground, in Indonesia.

In certain locations and situations people wear keris that have all elements of the dress correctly matched, but in other less elevated locations and situations people wear keris that are frequently comprised of conflicting elements of dress.

Real life is often very different to what we read in books.

5th April 2019, 10:08 PM	#17
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,700	I'd have no problem at all in accepting this pendok as suitable for East Jawa dress, however, even though Madura is a part of East Jawa, and even though a pendok of this type could be used on a Madura keris, it could not really be thought of as a Madura pendok, which means --- I think --- that if we came across this complete keris without knowledge of its provenance we would be in a similar position to the one that I'm in with the keris I put up for comment, and in all honesty, this is the reality of keris collecting and of keris wear, on the ground, in Indonesia. In certain locations and situations people wear keris that have all elements of the dress correctly matched, but in other less elevated locations and situations people wear keris that are frequently comprised of conflicting elements of dress. Real life is often very different to what we read in books.