Ivory handle Javanese Keris with silver covered scabbard

David · 6th January 2019, 12:16 AM

I'm scratching my head a bit on this one Rick. Yes, it does seem to have some age, but i'm having a hard time seeing this blade as Javanese. It just seems off for some reason and i do see what you mean in your comparison to Moro blades. Not that i think it is Moro, mind you. It is certainly outside of pakem with its 21 luks. While it probably isn't too easy to forge a blade with so many luks, this blade is hardly a masterpiece. It appears a bit awkward and the ricikan, such as the greneng and the sogokan are rather poorly carved.
The ivory planar hilt is also a bit of an enigma for me. You can find many variations of these planar style hilts from Madura for sure. But the cecakan generally adhere to a similar form that seems to represent a face. Yours seems to break completely out of that mold and the carver chose a different approach altogether with his motifs. You can see a number of rather unique planar hilts in this thread here, but for the most part when the cecekan are present they have a similar mask design. Or maybe this one is just so stylized that i just don't recognize it as that mask.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ht=planar+hilt
The silver selut does not seem to be original to this hilt, unless there was some shrinkage to the ivory. Perhaps it is a replacement.
The silver pendok on this piece is outstanding. Really beautiful.
How well does this blade sit in the sheath?

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6th January 2019, 12:16 AM	#3
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,218	I'm scratching my head a bit on this one Rick. Yes, it does seem to have some age, but i'm having a hard time seeing this blade as Javanese. It just seems off for some reason and i do see what you mean in your comparison to Moro blades. Not that i think it is Moro, mind you. It is certainly outside of pakem with its 21 luks. While it probably isn't too easy to forge a blade with so many luks, this blade is hardly a masterpiece. It appears a bit awkward and the ricikan, such as the greneng and the sogokan are rather poorly carved. The ivory planar hilt is also a bit of an enigma for me. You can find many variations of these planar style hilts from Madura for sure. But the cecakan generally adhere to a similar form that seems to represent a face. Yours seems to break completely out of that mold and the carver chose a different approach altogether with his motifs. You can see a number of rather unique planar hilts in this thread here, but for the most part when the cecekan are present they have a similar mask design. Or maybe this one is just so stylized that i just don't recognize it as that mask. http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ht=planar+hilt The silver selut does not seem to be original to this hilt, unless there was some shrinkage to the ivory. Perhaps it is a replacement. The silver pendok on this piece is outstanding. Really beautiful. How well does this blade sit in the sheath?