Matthew Thomas
Senior Specialist
Lot 176
A Balinese gem-set silver-gilt mounted steel dagger (kris) Indonesia, 18th/ 19th Century
26 October 2020, 11:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street£2,500 - £3,500
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A Balinese gem-set silver-gilt mounted steel dagger (kris)
Indonesia, 18th/ 19th Century
Indonesia, 18th/ 19th Century
the double-edged watered steel blade of undulating form with gold overlaid dragon to one side, the gilt silver hilt in the form of a deity, inlaid with rubies, emeralds and other gemstones, the wood scabbard clad entirely in silver decorated in repoussé and gilt with an undulating vine to one side set with gemstones, a lion and confronting bird on a ground of floral interlace to the other, carved ebony mount to top
53 cm. long
53 cm. long
Footnotes
Provenance
Private Spanish collection.
The hilt is probably in the form of the wind god Batara Bayu, the spiritual father of Hanuman and the Pandawa brother of Bima from the Mahabharata epic. Bayu is the Indonesian expression of the Indian wind god Vāyu, worshipped in this context as a protective deity but also as the bringer of health and riches. Bayu is recognisable by his large moustache, characteristic broad grin and long, sharp thumbnails (panchanaka) which he uses as a weapon. He holds in his right hand a vessel containing (toya mreta) the life-giving holy water, an important element in physical and spiritual purification rituals in Bali.
Deeply rooted in the Malay world in both ritual prescriptions and mythology, the kris has played a particularly important role in Balinese society. Standing as pusaka, a powerful sanctified heirloom and serving as a strong marker of socio-economic status, a kris could only be made by Pande blacksmiths who claim status higher than that of a Brahman.
For a group of similar Balinese kris dated to the 18th/19th Centuries, some in the National Museum of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, see Robert Hales, Islamic and Oriental Arms and Armour, 2013, p. 125, nos. 306, 308 and 309.