Nicely carved Madurese hilt with Chinese Motif

nechesh · 5th September 2005, 10:06 PM

Hi Rick. Well, i must admit i have not seen this motif used all that often in keris hilts, but Rick, the Elder (

) has shown us at least one other and where there are 2 there are probably more. I only made reference to Spirit of Wood examples to show that this motif has been accepted as a common part of Malay culture for some time so that it's use on your Madurese hilt doesn't necessarily indicate that it was made for an ethnic Chinese customer.
When i first saw the dragon i had the same impression as lordraphael. With it's bat-like wings your dragon reminds me a lot more of European style dragons. Certain, no where in Indonesia has the influence of European motifs on keris art been more evident than Madura. I could be wrong but i think it is very likely this dragon has more relation to the Dutch than the Chinese.

Rick · 5th September 2005, 10:31 PM

One more swastika base example can be seen on pg. 125 fig. 108 of Tammens DE KRIS vol. 3 .

This style if not of Chinese influence seems at least fairly uncommon .

On pg. 144 fig. 127 same volume another Madura ukiran shows the knot motif .

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5th September 2005, 10:06 PM	#1
nechesh Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 940	Hi Rick. Well, i must admit i have not seen this motif used all that often in keris hilts, but Rick, the Elder ( ) has shown us at least one other and where there are 2 there are probably more. I only made reference to Spirit of Wood examples to show that this motif has been accepted as a common part of Malay culture for some time so that it's use on your Madurese hilt doesn't necessarily indicate that it was made for an ethnic Chinese customer. When i first saw the dragon i had the same impression as lordraphael. With it's bat-like wings your dragon reminds me a lot more of European style dragons. Certain, no where in Indonesia has the influence of European motifs on keris art been more evident than Madura. I could be wrong but i think it is very likely this dragon has more relation to the Dutch than the Chinese.

5th September 2005, 10:31 PM	#2
Rick Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,414	One more swastika base example can be seen on pg. 125 fig. 108 of Tammens DE KRIS vol. 3 . This style if not of Chinese influence seems at least fairly uncommon . On pg. 144 fig. 127 same volume another Madura ukiran shows the knot motif .