Is This A Royal Keris?

DAHenkel · 23rd February 2015, 11:07 AM

At least in the Malay context, the presence of gold in a keris is a fairly good indicator that the piece was at least meant for noble wear. Early textual accounts usually proscribe wear of gold for anyone other than the ruler and those who were granted the favor to wear gold by the ruler. Later on, particularly by the early 20th century this seems to have been relaxed somewhat although only to the point where people who could afford gold could have it and in the colonial period that wasn't many people.

That said though the traditional aesthetic was commonly quite low key, with only major 'state level' keris being fully covered in gold. Authentic, provenanced examples of such keris are very rare and most are in museum collections. One must also remember that several Islamic schools of thought proscribe the wear of gold by males, which could be problematic depending on which set of rules and how willing one was to bend them.

Many high quality keris with just a bit of gold exist and many of these would have been the possessions of the nobility (bangsawan) the quality can be measured not merely by the presence of gold fittings but also finely worked and better quality materials overall. Indeed often one finds very good keris with missing or lower quality fittings that are obvious replacements for high value (gold, silver, gem-set) ones sold off for ready cash.

This also doesn't even begin to account for a completely different and parallel set of "aesthetics" for talismanic or amuletic keris which were meant to look old and time worn.

Today modern keris makers (and many fakers) are blowing up the traditional boundaries and making quite garish, often poorly crafted pieces with gold (or silver and gilded silver) fittings to try to emulate the great state pieces. This I fear skews the traditional aesthetic. I fear that fewer collectors and enthusiasts in the future will be able to recognize and celebrate the understated beauty of older pieces and most will only recognize the inherent value of the raw materials involved.

23rd February 2015, 11:07 AM	#7
DAHenkel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 125	At least in the Malay context, the presence of gold in a keris is a fairly good indicator that the piece was at least meant for noble wear. Early textual accounts usually proscribe wear of gold for anyone other than the ruler and those who were granted the favor to wear gold by the ruler. Later on, particularly by the early 20th century this seems to have been relaxed somewhat although only to the point where people who could afford gold could have it and in the colonial period that wasn't many people. That said though the traditional aesthetic was commonly quite low key, with only major 'state level' keris being fully covered in gold. Authentic, provenanced examples of such keris are very rare and most are in museum collections. One must also remember that several Islamic schools of thought proscribe the wear of gold by males, which could be problematic depending on which set of rules and how willing one was to bend them. Many high quality keris with just a bit of gold exist and many of these would have been the possessions of the nobility (bangsawan) the quality can be measured not merely by the presence of gold fittings but also finely worked and better quality materials overall. Indeed often one finds very good keris with missing or lower quality fittings that are obvious replacements for high value (gold, silver, gem-set) ones sold off for ready cash. This also doesn't even begin to account for a completely different and parallel set of "aesthetics" for talismanic or amuletic keris which were meant to look old and time worn. Today modern keris makers (and many fakers) are blowing up the traditional boundaries and making quite garish, often poorly crafted pieces with gold (or silver and gilded silver) fittings to try to emulate the great state pieces. This I fear skews the traditional aesthetic. I fear that fewer collectors and enthusiasts in the future will be able to recognize and celebrate the understated beauty of older pieces and most will only recognize the inherent value of the raw materials involved.