South Sumatra?

[Interested Party]

I have been following the keris Palembang thread http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...1&page=1&pp=30 and the referenced materials closely. I wasn't sure if I should place this on that tread or a new one. In the end the discussion was so in depth I did not want to risk derailing a very enlightening dialogue. A big thank you to all the participants involved.

Here is a keris in what I think is a southern Sumatran style. The hilt is Jawa demam with two large repaired cracks. Whether cracked from age or being carved from green wood I do not know. The standard Garuda beak emerges from the back of the figure. What I find interesting is the second Garuda in the form of a geometric pattern at the top of the headdress/crown. Spirals at the top of the head serve as eyes. Leaves/tendrils frame a beak. In between the eyes tip of the beak there is a triangle formed of three leaves that appear as nostrils. The leaf motif is repeated on the front of the hilt possibly being eyes of the figure above a beak-like nose. If these leaves on the front of the hilt are seen as eyes for the figure as a whole then the three leaves mentioned above as being the nostrils of the geometric Garuda's beak could be seen as representing eyes as well with the third eye open and equal above the others. OR the figure could be seen as faceless similar to a Durga, and everything above the void/blank space could be interpreted as part of the figure's crown. The blanket on the left shoulder is patterned by vines. The blade is ganja iras very similar to the one in http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ight=palembang. The blumbangan is sloppily cut. These are the attributes I believe I have some understanding of.

The blade if it ever was stained, the stain has worn or been polished off. I have wondered if the blade has been shortened at some point? Would the blade be described as lurus vs sapukal? The pamor of each side of the blade is different. The blade does not quite sit flush in its warangka and has become even more prominent with intensive hydration of the wood with raw linseed oil, but on the bright side the piece no longer has that brittle, fibrous feel accompanied by a rasping noise when handled. The buntut, if not the whole sarong, strike me as a replacement. Finally, I believe the selut may be plated as it has a machined look at the bottom edge near the ganja diffrent than the rest of the metal.

How would one finish describing the blade? Would it have a tangguh and daphur? Age?

The hilt's dimensions are:
9.5cm long to bottom of selut
6cm deep
3cm wide
11.5cm in circumference

The blades dimensions are:
29cm long point to ganja
7cm wide at the ganja
2.4cm wide below the ganja
0.85cm thick at the ganja
0.60cm thick 3cm above the ganja
0.45cm at mid point
0.3cm 2cm from the tip

[Interested Party]

Pictures of the hulu

[Jean]

The blade does not look Javanese so the concepts of tangguh and dhapur do not apply.
IMO this kris originates from Sumatra but with mixed elements, the blade is old and probably from South Sumatra (not in sepokal style), and it does not match with the Bugis scabbard, and the hilt is in Jawa deman (shivering Javanese) style probably from Central Sumatra.
Regards

[Interested Party]

Thank you Jean. Much appreciated. It seems I can grasp the symbolism and iconography a bit but how to describe a keris continues to elude me. I need a better library.

[Jean]

By the way Marco Noris in his excellent book "Gods, demons, and ancestors - Art of Indonesian kris hilts" (page 16 & 17) attributes this style of JD hilt with spiralling eyes to South-West Sumatra and he may well be right. These hilts are found in several regions of Sumatra with minor variations only.

[Interested Party]

I do need to pick up books authored by our members. So much to read out there.

Jean, you mentioned a Bugis type scabbard. In modern terminology how does that differ from what Gardner called a Northern type that he said comes from Perak?