Old straight-bladed Javanese Keris / Pamor Bonang Rinenteng with a row of small balls along the length of the blade the warangka has some scratches, dents and gouges. The wooden sheath is dressed with a thin layer of brass wrapped around the body with an impressed pattern on one side with several small dents in the metal. The mendak is a simple type with small clear stones set around the waist.
The world of the Javanese smiths was a group apart, practising basic alchemy, “marrying” iron from the earth and meteorites of the heavens to create intricate patterns on the blade (pamor).
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Through transmutation by fire, the forging of a keris is considered to hold unquestionable power with the forge being a holy place. There is an enigmatic forge among the reliefs on Candi Sukuh, a fifteenth-century temple on the western slope of Mt. Lawu near Surakarta. This cosmic forge is possibly a place that relates to the spirits of the ancestors, whose traditional abode is the mountains, the fire being the medium through which the souls of the ancestors could be released or an ancestral spirit could enter the blade being forged.
Legends about smiths with their forges in or on mountains are not uncommon, while those relating to the first smith gave him a divine origin. Divinity aside, tradition gave the Keris smith a special place, naming him Empu.
This title was reserved only for men of special power. It applied to the sage-priest and court poet (often one and the same person) who dealt with the supernatural and transformed thought and feeling into the tangible written word which carried its own power to “impress”.
It applied also to the gamelan gong smith while in the process of transforming crude material into a new form that could, when struck, magically affect its listeners. Smiths are sometimes referred to as pande, which also means expert, skilled, or clever.
Since the skills and knowledge of the Empu were passed from father to son, their genealogies became very important to the understanding of stylistic relationships and patterns of influence. Most likely the sons learned by working in the forge and gradually being entrusted with more and more difficult parts of the work.
In the twentieth century and probably well before, there was a distinction between “trade” keris destined for a dealer for the open market and those that were commissioned. The latter was much more carefully made following prescribed rituals and became more significant pieces, each matched to an individual and having a spirit.
The best-known Empu, like other traditional artists, often came under the patronage of the courts. One of the best-known Empu of the 20th century was Empu Djeno Harumbrodjo, a master keris/kris maker from Gratak village.
Nice video showing a keris with Pamor Bonang Rinenteng
Information source:
“The World of the Smith”