keris borneo

[David]

Semar, just about all the keris that i see from Kalimantan these days are new keris made mostly for the tourist market. The true antiques that i see from this area are mostly sundangs, not regular sized Indo-style keris. I see quite alot of new panjang style keris described as having Kalimantan origin. I have also seen the crudely painted sheaths with teeth ornaments described as originating in Borneo. These usually have fairly junky trade blades from Java or elsewhere. Frankly i doubt that any of these other than the actual antique sundang from the area have any true ethnographic bearing or application. I have never, for example, seen any old photographs showing someone in Borneo wearing one of these painted teeth decorated sheaths as a part of any traditional dress. I have seen no evidence that there was any particular traditional manufacture of keris from this area other than the sundang. If the standard Indonesian styles of keris were indeed used in this area traditionally i have a feeling that the origins of those keris most probably are from other areas of Indonesia. I don't think that we will find a traditional style that originates in Borneo.

[semar]

oke thank you David

regards semar

[Maurice]

Hi Hans,


In the north-east part of Borneo you mostly see the moro styled krisses. This because the moro's also settled at the coast there. But the natives there who had these, got it by trade or buy (or from victim? )
In the south, in the Banjarmasin area, the types crossed you find on attached 2 photo's from the Leiden Museum (but here a lot of trade was going on).

All other kinds of kerisses found on Borneo (old ones) are imported by traders and travellers. You find Javanese, Buginese, Sumatran and other types in museum databases depicted as Borneo kerisses.
But they are no typical Borneo kerisses, because the nativs of Borneo traditional never had kerisses.
Old kerisses could be acquired in Borneo, but that is all! They were once long ago imported!

Rg,
Maurice

[Henk]

Originally Posted by David

I have also seen the crudely painted sheaths with teeth ornaments described as originating in Borneo. These usually have fairly junky trade blades from Java or elsewhere. Frankly i doubt that any of these other than the actual antique sundang from the area have any true ethnographic bearing or application. I have never, for example, seen any old photographs showing someone in Borneo wearing one of these painted teeth decorated sheaths as a part of any traditional dress.

David, these keris you are refering to are described to borneo indeed. But this kind of dress was original found on Papua New Guinea. I have an original one in my collection with paint made from natural materials and sometimes an original one shows up. But the most of these things showing up on ebay are newly made for those who travel with modern paint.

[Naga Sasra]

These crudely made keris mentioned by David with teeth and hair was originally discussed back in 2005 in the following thread:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=naga+sasra

Also both Banjarmasin, Kalimanten and pieces from Brunai can indeed be classified from Borneo, although the blades may have been from other places. It is said that the keris forging in Kalimanten quietly vanished in the beginning of the twentieth century.
While still made in South-East Kalimanten the blades had the characteristic's of a mixture of Javanese and Buginese styles.

[David]

Originally Posted by Naga Sasra

Also both Banjarmasin, Kalimanten and pieces from Brunai can indeed be classified from Borneo, although the blades may have been from other places.

Thanks Eric, good point and certainly there is a particular style to dress from Banjarmasin. I am not aware of the origins of the blades in such dress though.
I do remember this old thread on the painted dress. Yours is certainly a nice older example and you rarely see them made with such integrity. I don't think we ever actually came to any conclusion on the ethnographic validity of such dress. I would love to see some old photographs showing these keris worn by indigenous people from the area.

[Naga Sasra]

David,
To the best of my recollected knowledge, you are absolutely right, we never did come to any conclution on the ethnographic validity if the painted dresses with teeth and hair, and I would also welcome any photographic evidence of these pieces actually being used by the indigenous people from the area.

Perhaps our friends from the Netherlands can assist?

Also as we were touching on the Banjarmasin pieces, please let me direct your attention to yet another old thread:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=naga+sasra

I thought this thread would be of interest to all.

[David]

Eric, thanks for being the archivist with these past links and this last one is also very good and appropriate to our discussion. It does, however, bring up a big pet peeve of mine. Please, PLEASE, when you have photos of examples, PLEASE....upload them to THIS site. All the links in this thread no longer exist so we are not able to see the blades of these Banjarmasin keris, only the hilts that got posted on the actual forum. I guess kampungnet is no more. Photos also get removed after time from servers like photobucket or whatever you use. Our archives can be a vital resource for future resource, but we have to ensure that the images connected to these discussions remain accessible. Hopeful, like diamonds, the Warung is forever.

[Sajen]

I remember this thread where some keris shown which you can attribute Banjarmasin:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...t=borneo+keris

And also this one:

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7840