Bali keris with Sunggingan at The Met

A. G. Maisey · 25th February 2022, 02:30 AM

I don't think we even need to get involved with tahgguh here JB.

In fact, in tangguh as I learnt it in Solo in there was no formal place for Banten in the system, but it was accepted that other tangguhs could exist, the only requirement being a consistency that defined the classification.

For example, over the last few years some people have been pushing a "tangguh Palembang". People from the keris sub-cultures of Jakarta & Surabaya I believe. However, if we accept the Solo idea of tangguh, there can be no "tangguh Palembang", simply because blade forms vary too widely in Palembang.

But with Banten, there is common thread running through the Palembang keris, just as there is with the other major tangguh classifications. So even without a tangguh, we can use that overall appearance to take an educated guess at point of origin.

25th February 2022, 02:30 AM	#10
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 7,019	I don't think we even need to get involved with tahgguh here JB. In fact, in tangguh as I learnt it in Solo in there was no formal place for Banten in the system, but it was accepted that other tangguhs could exist, the only requirement being a consistency that defined the classification. For example, over the last few years some people have been pushing a "tangguh Palembang". People from the keris sub-cultures of Jakarta & Surabaya I believe. However, if we accept the Solo idea of tangguh, there can be no "tangguh Palembang", simply because blade forms vary too widely in Palembang. But with Banten, there is common thread running through the Palembang keris, just as there is with the other major tangguh classifications. So even without a tangguh, we can use that overall appearance to take an educated guess at point of origin.