Sulawesi (toraja?) keris

[David]

Originally Posted by Jean

. The tradition of owning krisses and wearing them during ceremonies was well established in the Toraja society before 1950.

This is a good shot for establish timeline. It is also interesting because the keris aren't actually being worn here, they are attached to the sides of the carrier.

Originally Posted by Jean

. The krisses shown on this picture (and mine with the lady) look very similar to the old royal krisses from South Sulawesi and Sumbawa and the hilts seem to depict Hindu heroes, so my kris and the one from Marco (which are more common and recent) do not follow the traditional design.

Since they do not follow the design seen here are they still traditional Toraja keris. Have you both IDed them as such based on place of purchase or some kind of provenance?

Originally Posted by Jean

These original gold krisses are very difficult to find even in South Sulawesi as confirmed by Detlef, and it seems to me that they had not been made since a long time may be because of their Hindu attributes.

AFAIK the Torajan populous is, on the outside at least, about 82% Christian and only 6% Islamic, so it seems unlikely that they would ban Hindu deities bases on Islamic prohibition of form. And in spite of their conversion to Christianity they have held on to many of their animistic traditions.