warangka for identification

[kai]

Hello David,

However, another of far greater knowledge than i also IDed this one as "typical Palembang" some years ago.

The dress of your Keris certainly is Palembang/Lampung. However, the dress seems fairly recent to me, probably quite a bit younger than the blade. Thus, we probably have to focus on the blade only; considering the differences with Gustav's blade though, I kinda doubt that it will bear much on placing the latter.

Anyway, it is certainly interesting to drive home the notion that a really wide variety of blades can be found in South Sumatran dress. Aside from the obviously strong influence of Mataram style on many blades, one also might expect quite a bit of carry-over from western Java (or Sunda-influenced regions in general).

Regards,
Kai

[David]

Originally Posted by kai

The dress of your Keris certainly is Palembang/Lampung. However, the dress seems fairly recent to me, probably quite a bit younger than the blade. Thus, we probably have to focus on the blade only; considering the differences with Gustav's blade though, I kinda doubt that it will bear much on placing the latter.

Yes Kai, the dress is obviously later than the blade, which is probably the case with most keris that come up for discussion.
To be clear, the reason that i posted my own keris for comparison was to draw Jean's two assertions into question.
1. that sumatran keris are generally not larger than 37cm.
2. that the tikel alis passing into the gandik is more a North Coast trait.
These are traits that both my keris and Gustav's share as well as a very similar arrangement in the greneng and a flat, squared off buntut urang. Certainly there are many differences between my keris and Gustav's and given that Sumatran keris were greatly influenced by keris from Jawa i was not necessarily trying to develop a thesis to prove the origins of both. What i did what to know was if Jean's assertion held to greater scrutiny and if what he was saying discounted Sumatra as the origin of my own keris. Given what has been presented i feel quite comfortable continuing to identify my keris was Sumatran. Gustav's keris presents some other more difficult traits which perhaps makes it harder to be so definitive.

[Jean]

Originally Posted by David

1. that sumatran keris are generally not larger than 37mm.

Gosh, I did not say that
And after seeing the pic of the whole blade, I agree that it is probably from South Sumatra.
Regards