Wooden hilt cup and composite wood hilt

[A. G. Maisey]

I've seen that form in metal Gustav, one of the ones that I have seen, originally had a little cup & the turned stem had the same form as your wooden one, but that little cup had a big piece missing.

The next time I visited the owner of that keris he had filed the metal cup down, so that only the stem & a tiny cup was left --- very similar to what you have shown in wood.

I've also seen wooden mendaks on Javanese keris, & wooden wewer on Balinese keris, not all that uncommon & usually from an ebony.

Seen the same thing in ivory.

So the hilt ring can exist in wood & materials other than metal, but Adam's is the first wooden cup-form I've seen on a Bugis style keris, and the form of Adam's wooden hilt ring does not really echo any Bugis form that I can recall having seen.

This, of course, does not mean other fittings like Adam's do not exist, it just means that I have yet to see another.

[RobT]

Hi All,

When I got this Bali keris it had this wood selut fitted to the horn kocet kocetan hilt and I added the uwer. I don’t know if the selut is original to the piece but looking at it from the new perspective caused by this thread, I can see the selut working on a Bugis keris with a Garuda hilt. Not to hijack this thread but, if the selut is inappropriate, I would appreciate seeing examples of what would be correct.

Sincerely,
RobT

[A. G. Maisey]

I've seen exactly the same as your example Rob, but on a Bali keris, not Bugis, & I've seen that same selut style in horn as well as ebony.

The form of this wooden one echos the usual metal Balinese form.

[David]

Originally Posted by RobT

Hi All,

When I got this Bali keris it had this wood selut fitted to the horn kocet kocetan hilt and I added the uwer. I don’t know if the selut is original to the piece but looking at it from the new perspective caused by this thread, I can see the selut working on a Bugis keris with a Garuda hilt. Not to hijack this thread but, if the selut is inappropriate, I would appreciate seeing examples of what would be correct.

Sincerely,
RobT

Yes Rob, i agree with Alan that this is not unusual. Here is an example i own with a similar wooden "selut".

[adamb]

Thanks all for your insight. I do wonder now if the wooden hilt cup on my Bugis keris is indeed original and that the use of wood instead of metal has some meaning or significance. I’m aware that wood and wooden objects can have spiritual power for the Bugis and Makasar in South Sulawesi; for example, I was once given, by a Bugis person, a piece of lightweight, whitish-yellow coloured wood about 30 cm long and that looks like a section of thin tree branch with bark removed - this innocuous looking object is said to be a very dangerous weapon that can cause a person’s death simply by touching them with it. There’s also this lightweight wooden “sword” (picture attached), a component of a back-strap loom used for weaving textiles: I’m informed by Bugis/Makasar people that these are objects of particularly dangerous spiritual power used by women as weapons - men fear them. They are kept as revered pusaka, though they seem to be uncommon.

So perhaps the use of a wooden hilt cup, though evidently rare, is meaningful.