Nice Java Keris?

[VVV]

So true David, that was the reason I bought it from the beginning and why I will keep it.

Michael

[PenangsangII]

old or new doesnt really matter as long as its made by someone with the knowledge of an empu. Based on fotos, i would say the blade was made by someone with sufficient knowlege in keris craftmanship, esp with regards to the measurement of blumbangan, the luks, the sogokan and the pucuk. However, the garap of the pamor is quite rough.

[A. G. Maisey]

Regrettably, this keris was not made by an empu.

Pandai keris perhaps, but not empu.

[Jean]

Hello Alan,
For me this tangguh Koripan information is a revelation for understanding the origin of the old and medium quality Javanese blades attributed to tangguh Mataram. If possible could you show us the pictures of few representative specimens of these Koripan blades?
Do you know of any other large kris making center in Central Java or East Java (Tuban?) in the past?

Thank you and best regards
Jean

[A. G. Maisey]

Koripan is really pretty basic stuff. Its the place that is best known for commercially produced blades in Central Jawa, however, I guess you don't get to hear about it unless you're Javanese, because as I said, the dealers almost invariably present these blades as Mataram.

I can't show you pictures. I might have a few Koripan blades in stock, I've got none in my collection, but to find them would involve time and work. I'm sorry. However, if you note the salient features of this blade of Michael's virtually all Koripan blades will look similar.

AND bear this in mind, I said :- "If I handled this blade, I feel that I would probably classify it as Koripan."

That's a qualification Jean. I'm 90+% sure its Koripan, but in the hand there could be indicators that pushed my opinion in a different direction.

We all know Tuban, but that's actually a tangguh, rather than designation of a specific village location. Tuban was a sea port, and blades passed through it as items of trade, both for places outside Jawa, and for the interior. The tradition is that Tuban made blades for use in the various kingdoms--- Pajajaran, Majapahit, Mataram--- but Tuban never had the industrial capacity to do this, if you read the old accounts of Tuban, it was just a muddy little sea port, however, smiths from surrounding areas would have brought their product to Tuban to sell.

There was Gresik, which is well known for copies of old historic tangguhs, like Pajajaran, Segaluh, Majapahit. Pretty easy to pick the Gresik copies because the material almost invariably has a greasy feel to it.

This is what I can think of easily. There were other places scattered all over that produced blades "in the style of", some of these are decent, some are just pretty ordinary, but only a few have been given their own widely known classifications, like Matesih ( Mataram Matesih) and Madiun.

I don't think that we can take this identication of a couple of places as identification of any source for ordinary blades. Going back a couple of hundred years or so, I believe you would have found pandai keris and skilled smiths right across Jawa who produced the occasional keris blade.

[Jean]

Thank you Alan for the additional information and I fully understand your qualification, and will remember that the Gresik blades look greasy, haha!
Best regards
Jean

[A. G. Maisey]

Feel greasy Jean.

Feel greasy.