Keris Pedang Lombok

[BluErf]

Have a slightly unusual keris pedang from Lombok to share. When I 1st saw this piece, it reminded of the fantastic keris pedang shown in "The Invincible Keris", but of course this piece of mine is no where near that keris pedang in terms of garap.

The repoussed silver and brass sheets are relatively recent works, but its refreshing to see Balinese/Lombok kerises with some metal works (and quite ok ones too). In the past 5 years, what we usually see are plain wooden sheaths with their original gold and silver works gone. The stones on the mendak and the brass ornament are, as you can see, low grades one, as usually seen on common men's kerises. High grade gemstones are only found on kerises of the highest rank. It is to my knowledge that traditionally, black(quartz?), white (diamond, intarn) and red (ruby) stones are used. Blue (sapphires) and green (emeralds) stones are indications of (later half?) 20th century work.

Older sheath in traditional pelet wood. People tell me that lombok gayaman sheaths are of the "axe" shape, with the right side of the wrangka ending in a straight line. This example of mine has a rounded end to the right side (what we call the "bean" shape), apparently more common in Bali. But these 2 islands are so close and have such similar keris styles that I am not really sure if there is this necessary distinction. Anyway, we all know kerises travel from one place to another.

Now the interesting part -- the blade. The blade is the oldest part of this entire ensemble. I hazard its about 19th century. Its swift and light but tough and sturdy, like all other older pieces which were made with both beauty and functionality in mind. Its tempered two-thirds of the way down. Corrosion on the blade is the reassuring 'random' pattern (which gives me the assurance that this is an old blade). Pamor is of the kulit semangka type. Very sparse pamor as is the common case with Bali/Lombok pieces. And the pamor is only evident on one side. The other side is black as night.

The incision at the base of the blade, between the ganja is said to be representing the third eye of Shiva, much like the carvings on the wrangka. This is not confirmed. It could just be ornamental in function, but it is well done and sets it apart from all the other keris pedang I've seen. It is also the reason why I bought this piece.

[capt.smash]

wow what an interesting beauty

[nechesh]

Hey Blu, that's a pretty cool blade. If you are referring to the keris on pg. 41 of Invincible Kris, i actual find the features on your keris more interesting, especially the "Siva's eyes" thing (there are 2, so i don't think this could be the 3rd eye, but both eyes". Of course the gonjo wilut on that piece is pretty cool too and i think it might be a bit older than yours, but from the photo it is hard to tell if the garap is really that much better. I also find the uneven sogokans very interesting, a feature i have noted on other keris pedang of this type. Does anyone know if there is a practical purpose or spiritual meaning for this?

[Battara]

Nice repousse work and Siva's eyes. Question. How can one tell the difference between Balinese and Lombok work if they are this similar? To me, this piece all smacks of Balinese work.

[nechesh]

Hey Jose, i'll probably get an argument from somewhere about this, but in truth i would say that with out provenance you really can'y tell the difference. Lombak was pretty much a Balinese colony for years and so as went Bali so went Lombak.

[Naga Sasra]

Hi Blu,
Thank you for showing us another nice blade, we did have a thread on the form of the blade back in 2002.

In case you or other forum members missed it, here it is:

http://www.vikingsword.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001182.htm

As information on Lombok/Bali blades are quite sparse, it would be very nice if anybody out there could enlighten us further on this type of blades and its variants.

[BluErf]

What is from Bali and what is from Lombok -- that is indeed a very very good question. If I didn't know this piece was collected from Lombok, I would have a hard time telling too.

As for the "3rd eye of Shiva", its a valid point that there are 2 of them on the blade, but then again, the "3rd eye of Shiva" features on the wrangka also comes in pairs. I don't know.

Naga Sasra -- thanks for the link, but I think its dead.

[Naga Sasra]

Blu,
Sorry about the link, I forgot to double check, anyway it is easy to find look in UBB Forum 2000-2004, use search, type in Mick.
The topic is named : Request for Dapur information started by Mick posted on 09-11-02

[nechesh]

Try this link to that previous post. It is well worth checking out.I think you just left a letter off:
http://www.vikingsword.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001182.html
As is discussed in that thread, there is some question as to whether or not this is "officially" a keris. I would still put it in my own keris collection.
Even more so Mick's example in the linked thread.
There is another example of this type of "keris" at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco (albeit badly photographed and mis identified). There is an enlagement feature if you click onto the photo: http://search.famsf.org:8080/search.shtml?keywords=kris
Shiva is said to have three eyes, the third is generally depicted closed because when it opens, watch out!

[BluErf]

Wooo... *drool* Now that's a real high-class keris pedang in envious condition! As I was telling Dave, it made my keris pedang look like a scrappy mongrel. I would certainly like to see it in its sheath.

Well, this sort of weapons are called keris pedang, so its both a pedang and a keris. It would qualify in either collector types' treasure trove.

[Mick]

Blu

You can see the sheath on Pauls keris page. It's the one labeled Sedang Walikat in the friend's section.

[nechesh]

Here's the shortcut to Mick's sheath. i believe it is the 3rd image down:
http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~dspf/fren.html