Bali Keris

[Gustav]

A good answer, Alan.

[A. G. Maisey]

Thank you for your compliment Gustav, however, my comment should not be understood as an answer. Answers follow questions, & no question has been asked.

You have stated your opinion, I have stated my opinion.

Your opinion is based upon your experience, my opinion is based upon my experience.

I doubt that it is possible for me to transfer my experience to other people, and to be honest, I'm not all that interested in attempting to do so.

You & others may accept my opinion, or reject it, there is no loss, & no gain for me, either way.

To be clear, my opinion cannot be regarded as a some sort of thesis that needs to be defended, & that I want people to believe, this opinion represents what I know to be fact, that element of fact is based upon an involvement of more than 70 years of experience in this field, that includes well over 100 visits to Bali during a period of 58 years, and entails all of the personal contacts and trade & academic information that I have garnered.

If you do not wish to accept my opinion, then please just disregard it.

Perhaps the attached photos might be of interest.

The photos are of the hilt & pendok of a Balinese keris that I have had in my possession since about 1956, it was one of the first keris that I acquired after leaving school. I bought it from a Dutchman who had been living in Bali and who came to Australia very shortly before the Japanese invaded & occupied Bali in 1942. I have forgotten all the details of purchase, but my memory is that this man had been born in what is now Indonesia and he had farmed in East Jawa before moving to Bali some time during the 1930's. When he came to Australia he opened a restaurant & he had the keris that this hilt & pendok belong to, hanging on the wall.

Incidentally, the correct term for a Balinese pendok is "kandelan", correct term for a Balinese hilt is "danganan".

[A. G. Maisey]

Looks like I was too impatient.

David, please get rid of this unnecessary post if you can. Thanks.



For some reason the hilt failed to transfer, here it is:-

[Gustav]

Alan, I knew you wouldn't sit on that, thank you.

Yes, this is proper Balinese style ornamentation on Pendok, and this is a proper front side of a Pendok.

Letting the material question outside (so even if the Pendok would be made from gold), the ornamentation is too lush/dynamic to be pre-1908 work. As we know, old style Balinese art was quite different from that, what we are used to see today, even as "vintage" or "old", and it includes everything - carvings, painting, music, dance. It took a couple of years, but it all started to change around 1913 - and then of course from the beginning of 1930ties.

[A. G. Maisey]

Gustav, my comment in respect of age for Thomas' silver dress was:-

"--- that did most definitely did originate in Bali during the late Colonial period, say 1890 to 1940.---" (the "that" is in reference to the silver dress).

My comment was in respect of what I consider to be the late colonial period in Bali, I am somewhat unwilling to be any more precise than "late colonial period" because with Bali it is far too easy to be misled.

In tend to be quite conservative when I estimate age for Balinese objects, not just keris, the reason being as above:- it is very easy to be misled by older items that appear stylistically very recent, & recent items that appear stylistically old.

For example, I have a gold hilt that was once the property of the Puri Badung, it predates the Denpasar puputan, but it has a very modern appearance.

In respect of ornamentation of Balinese pendoks, it would be a grave error to imagine that Balinese craftsmen & the Balinese people themselves, are always bound by rules that govern how and where ornamentation is applied. Some conventions are followed, certainly, but individuals will often move away from a convention & go their own way.

Yes, the embossing on Thomas' pendok does present both faces embossed in a way that is often seen on the reverse face only of a Balinese pendok, but this is in no way unusual, nor are the multitude of other variations in motif style & placement that we can meet with in Balinese work.

We can find Balinese pendoks that have both front face and rear face fully embossed, partially embossed & the panels of embossing distributed in a number of ways, & using motifs that are not bound by convention. Bali is not Jawa.

I agree that the art that is produced in Bali today is very far from what was produced prior to the influence of people such as Walter Spies & the other Europeans. In fact I do have a small collection of modern (post 1920) Balinese art, mostly carvings, around a hundred or so & a few Batuan style paintings. An Australian academic, Adrian Vickers has commented very well on this matter of Balinese art in "Bali: A Paradise Created" --- very thorough and an easy read.

Actually, Balinese art & culture, & the society itself is constantly changing, very much due to the tourist pressure.

Yesterday, 29 March, was Hari Nyepi in Bali, the "day of silence" & Balinese New Years Day. On New Years Eve, they have a big celebration, parading the Oguh-Ogohs up & down the street, crowds of people, each banjar creates an ogoh-ogoh that represents the evils of the year just past. Couple years back the children of one banjar built an ogoh-ogoh that was a demon school teacher, that was their idea of the previous year's evil. The day after Hari Nyepi, those ogoh-ogoh get burnt:- goodbye last year's evils, this year will be better.

Now, the bulk or tourists who come to Bali for this New Year's Eve celebration & the ogoh-ogohs believe that they are taking part in an old Balinese tradition.

Sorry, wrong.

What we see now developed during the 1980's and has continued to get bigger & better every year, it is a big tourist drawcard and it has developed as it is now purely because the tourists love it.

It used to be just a simple little thing, often just a personal thing, but these days its a big event.

Personally, I enjoy it myself, when possible I go to Bali a bit before Hari Nyepi, in time to take part in the Melasti ceremony and get blessed by the priests, that's a few days before Hari Nyepi & it is great experience.Hari Nyepi you are not allowed out of your residence, it is a day for meditation & contemplation.

I just got back from Bali a couple of weeks ago, I missed Melasti & Hari Nyepi this year, could not reorganise my committments.

[A. G. Maisey]

Here is a pic of an ogoh-ogoh.

[Gustav]

Alan, thank you!

I would like to add another book, which documents changes in Balinese society and art - "The Life of a Balinese temple: Artistry, Imagination, and History in a Peasant Village" by Hildred Geertz.

My current understanding is, in a simplified version, that one function of Keris in pre-colonial Bali was to denominate the status of a person in the society. And, while the norms of this pre-colonial society were strong, Togogan as Keris hilts were allowed only for the members of Triwangsa, and the material/colour of these hilts had to be gold.

The reglaments of society was more stiff and rigid, the expression in art was more stiff and rigid, literally. Alan, you have showed the hilt from Puri Badung here previously. My memory of it is, while execution of it looks modern, it has this certain (for me) stiffness, which isn't (on this highest level of execution) to be find in modern Balinese hilts.

To say it blunt, the "flourishing" in Balinese art started, when Sudra and Jaba gained wealth and the strict social norms softened after 1908.

[Gustav]

Alan, just sow your expanded post.
Yes exactly. And the Kecak being an invention of 30ties, and Barong dance in the form as it existed in the 30ties being likely not much older then around 1850.