Kris [.1] with wavy blade, silver mounted hilt and wooden pommel. With wooden sheath [.2]. [El.B 2/3/2007]

Collection type: Object
Description: Kris [.1] with wavy blade, silver mounted hilt and wooden pommel. With wooden sheath [.2]. [El.B 2/3/2007]
Long description: Kris [.1] with wavy blade, silver mounted hilt and wooden pommel. With wooden sheath [.2]. The kris has leaf and wavy line patterns on the blade, which also has fretted projections near the hilt. The hilt is of steel, incised with cross-hatched diamond pattern and with three incised silver rings. A strip of copper alloy links the hilt and the blade. The sheath is carved with a curved widening tip and it widens at the top to contain the blade projections. A strip of cane is wound around it. [El.B 2/3/2007]
Geographical reference: Philippines
Asia > South-eastern Asia > Philippines; Sulu Archipelago
Person: Field collector Unknown Collector; PRM source Edward Burnett Tylor
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1911
Date collected: By 1911
Acquisition information: Donated: 1911
Materials and processes: Material Silver Metal, Material Steel Metal, Material Copper Alloy Metal, Material Wood Plant, Material Cane Plant, Process Incised, Process Carved, Process Forged (Metal)
Dimensions: Length: max 630 mm, Length: max 697 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1911.1.51.1 Accession number: 1911.1.51.2
Research and responses: Accompanying the display of this weapon along with others chosen by Pio Abad, Pio writes: 'In 1998, the Filipino curator Marian Pastor Roses put together an inventory of Philippine artefacts exiled in museums outside the country. She described that 90 percent of Philippine material heritage exists in the backrooms of Western museums. The most recurrent artefact is the bladed weapon from Mindanao, where indigenous tribes adapted Islam. These weapons were made for an individual warrior's hand a bestowed a spiritual potency upon their owners. Most of them were taken during the Philippine-American War in the 20th century, when US colonisers waged asymmetric battles against the Moros, the local Islam population.
Since the 16th century, the Moro people have waged a secessionist struggle against a national government that has inherited the dehumanised depiction of Moros from their Spanish and American colonisers. The very categorisation of Moro weaponry as Philippine artefacts could be considered an act of violence, appending them to a national category that they have resisted.
When I exhibited the weapons from the Pitt Rivers collection at the Ashmolean, it became apparent that two of the swords in the display had been mislabelled. For nearly a century, these blades have been designated Moro, even though the colourful beadwork in their sheaths would indicate that they come from the Bugaboo people; an entirely different indigenous group who carry their own history of dispossession. This misattribution further emphasises the need to imagine an alternate system of knowledge beyond colonial labels.'
The large number of keris forms reflects the wide distribution of this weapon across Malaysia and Indonesia. There are seven major recognised areas of keris manufacturing: Java, Bali, Madura, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, Moro (Mindanao, Philippines) and Sajen. As far as can be deduced from bas relief depictions of warriors on the friezes of Buddhist temples, the keris had its origin on Java some time around the 14th century, spreading westwards and eastwards in following centuries (Egerton, 1896; Maisey 1998). The keris is a distinctive weapon, with an asymmetrical rapier-like blade adapted for stabbing, and a quite unique ‘pistol-grip’ hilt – significantly more ergonomic for the actual act of stabbing than almost all other rapier forms. We see such asymmetrical hilts in later European cavalry sabres, although this was a late development, and never popular. Keris were also used for rapid execution in certain Malay states, being thrust down diagonally behind the collarbone, through the lung and into the heart. Death was instantaneous. Perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of keris after the unique blade shape is that of pamor or pattern-welding. This is often mistakenly described as a form of damascening, although the two processes are completely different. Whereas damascening in the true Indo-Persian tradition is achieved through the slow cooling of the forged steel over days, encouraging the natural formation of crystalline structures of Martensite steel and Cementite iron, pamor is achieved through the artificial layering of wires or plates of pig iron and meteoric nickel steel, which are then folded and rippled into specific patterns. This technique is only known outside of the range of the keris in Japan, although the Japanese technique is considerably more limited than the Malay-Indonesian. Several different forms of pamor patterning are achievable, which can give the blade a wood-like grain, spots like leopardskin, and so on. The pamor was historically believed by Javanese people to impart certain mystical powers to the blade (Maryon, 1960; Frankel, 1963). Keris were traditionally understood to have great mystical power among the Malay people, and each was believed to be inhabited by a spirit. The nature of the keris’ spirit is reflected by its pamor, and by the blade shape or dapur. It was considered important for a prospective owner to acquire a keris whose spiritual persona was compatible with his own. Some keris were transmitted through family lineages as heirlooms. Keris Parts Terms: Blade (Wilah); Asymmetrical Blade Base (an additional welded fillet) (Ganja); Pistol-Gripped Hilt (Ukiran); Scabbard (Sampir or Warangka); Wide Scabbard-Mouth Piece (Batang). Research Conducted for DCF Cutting Edge 2006/2007 [AM].
Recommended Reading: Annandale, N. & Robinson, H.C. (1903) Fasciculi Malayenses: Anthropology Part I. London: Longmans, Green & Co. Frankel, J.P. (1963) The Origin of Indonesian ‘Pamor’. In Technology & Culture, Vol.4, No.1, pp.14-21. LaRocca, D. (1996) The Gods of War: Sacred Imagery & the Decoration of Arms & Armour. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Maisey (1998) Keris Website: www.nikhef.nl/~tonvr/keris/keris2/origin.html. Maryon, H. (1960) Pattern-Welding & Damascening of Sword-blades – Parts 1 & 2. Studies in Conservation, Vol.5, No.1. Shelford, R. (1901) A Provisional Classification of the Swords of the Sarawak Tribes. In Journal of the Royal Anthropoogical Institute, Vol.31, pp.219-28. [2006/2007 AM]

Search terms: Weapon, Tool, Dagger, Sheath, Sword