Palembang handle and selut

[ganjawulung]

Dear Klungkung,

Old and nice carving of old Sumatran keris hilt. But the possibility is not Palembang, but perhaps between West Sumatra or Riau, Jambi. The material is elephant ivory, or "sea ivory"?

I have some examples of Sumatran Jawa Demam hilt. Palembang "pendokok" is very typical Palembang. Here are examples of my Palembang keris hilt. One made of old ivory, and the other is wooden hilt.

Ganjawulung

[Gustav]

Here a "cousin" of it - I also doubt, these quite small hilts would come directly from Palembang. My guess was the "upper class" of a Minang population close to Palembang.

[Sajen]

Dear Klungkung,

your very nice handle could be Palembang or Minangkabau and maybe also Jambi. The stone is most proable a jimat but I think that the stone cover the natural nerv crevise of the material which I guess to be sperm whale tooth.
Look for example this hilt from my collection where you can see this "nerv crevise" uncovered.

Regards,
Detlef

PS: Forget: The pendokok is IMHO a Minangkabau pendokok.

[ganjawulung]

Hopefully, my understanding is not wrong. To my knowledge, style of Palembang carving, its "cukitan" (I don't know the Palembang term of "cukitan", I use common terminology in keris) was not too deep. But fine. Even very subtle. In contrast to Madura, which its cukitan is usually deep. Just possibly, the equipment used to carve different. They use different types of knives. Also Java carving, usually deeper carved than Palembang...

Ganjawulung

[Jean]

Pak Ganja,
Is this small hilt with a fine & superficial carving but in a different style originating from Palembang in your opinion?
Best regards

[kai]

Hello Jean,

How large is this hilt?

The selut is Minang. The hilt doesn't look like Palembang to me.

Actually, I feel that the Palembang carving is pretty deep, especially if you consider the very narrow crevices cut into the material. I believe Ganja was referring to the kinda 2-dimensional appearance of the "crowded" Palembang carving while the Minang carving gives a more 3-dimensional effect due to more material being cut away between the floral and other elements. Also the overall shape tends to be more rigid/blocky in Palembang JD hilts while Minang and others show more rounded shapes.

Regards,
Kai

[Jean]

Originally Posted by kai

Hello Jean,

How large is this hilt?

The selut is Minang. The hilt doesn't look like Palembang to me.

Actually, I feel that the Palembang carving is pretty deep, especially if you consider the very narrow crevices cut into the material. I believe Ganja was referring to the kinda 2-dimensional appearance of the "crowded" Palembang carving while the Minang carving gives a more 3-dimensional effect due to more material being cut away between the floral and other elements. Also the overall shape tends to be more rigid/blocky in Palembang JD hilts while Minang and others show more rounded shapes.

Regards,
Kai

Hello Kai,
This hilt is very small (6 cm high). I agree that this piece is probably not from Palembang but from where then? The selut was not original to the piece.
Thank you and regards
Jean