Determine Front Side of The Pendok

[A. G. Maisey]

The motif on Bejo's pendok and the motif on Detlef's pendok are not the same, nor similar, but are philosophically related.

Detlef's pendok has a motif that symbolises emerging life. At the top there is a butterfly, or moth, if we track this butterfly down to the beginning of the motif at the tip of the pendok, we will see that the butterfly has experienced a journey from chrysalis to grown beast with spread wings. This is a statement of the way in which life grows, something of particular importance to an agrarian based society.

Bejo's motif is different. This one I do not know for certain, but a very highly regarded silver & gold smith who specialised in keris fittings and who lived in Solo once told me that in his opinion this angular upright was a stylization of the Kalpataru, the Tree of Life.

I am inclined to accept this as an accurate opinion, because if we look at the literature on Indonesian art motifs we frequently see the Kalpataru represented in a very sparse, angular fashion.

Detlef, I consider your pendok to be Banyumas. If we are both wrong, then a very great number of Javanese keris literate people will also be wrong.

Bejo's pendok I'm a bit hesitant about, my inclination is to think of it as quite recent, say within the last 50 years, and made in the style of Banyumas, but in Jogja.

Bejo, a question:- is your pendok silver, and if so, what is its weight?