HIGHLY RARE 18TH CENTURY JAVANESE ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT REGARDING SACRED KRIS

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HIGHLY RARE 18TH CENTURY JAVANESE ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT REGARDING SACRED KRIS:
$102.50

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In this lot we are pleased tooffer a highly rare and outstanding quality illuminated manuscript on thesubject of the sacred kris.

This hand written manuscriptillustrates a variety of what is called the pamour, or the design wrought intothe kris blade by a master Empu using damascene forging techniques. It is the pamour which essentially definesthe personality and the specific powers of the kris…a weapon which is believedto have a life or spiritual force of its own.

This sort of manuscript iscalled a primbon, which is a sort of manual written by masters of certainarts. For example, there are primbonwritten by physicians, lawyers, authors, religious scholars, and in this caseby a master Empu, or forger of the sacred weapon of ancient Indonesia calledthe kris. While specializing in ancientIndonesian manuscripts for many years, this is only the second manuscript wehave handled discussing the creation of the kris.

The last page in our listingshows a primbon which also deals with kris which is in the collection of theNational Library of Indonesia and illustrated in the book, Illuminations, TheWriting Traditions of Indonesia. Pleasenote, that manuscript is not included with this lot, and we present the photoof it only for comparative purposes.

This highly rare manuscriptconsists of 55 leaves, or 110 pages. Itmeasures 10 ¼ by 7 ¾ inches.

While written in bald Arabicscript, the language is old Javanese.

This superb highly raremanuscript is written on indigenous Javanese paper called daluang. Daluang is hand made from the beaten bark ofthe mulberry tree, Broussonetia papyrifera, called pohon saehin Indonesia. Srips of the inner bark of the saehtree is cut out, soaked in water, and then pounded repeatedly and polisheduntil the surface is smooth enough to write on.With the increasing availability of cotton based paper provided by theDutch colonial merchants in Java, most all Javanese manuscripts on daluang canbe dated to the 18th century, or earlier.

Due to the harsh tropicalclimate of Java, very few manuscripts of any form dating from the 17th,18th or even 19th century are found, and their appearancein the market is rare.

The condition of this museumquality and very rare manuscript is exceptionally good when considering thatmost ancient Javanese manuscripts are found in poor condition. As documented in the book ILLUMINATIONS...THEWRITING TRADITIONS OF INDONESIA by Ann Kumar and John H. McGlynn it is verydifficult to find early manuscript material from Indonesia in good condition. This is due to a very unfriendly climate andinsect infestation.

The following is a passagetaken from an organization who is attempting to microfilm ancientIndonesian manuscripts:

The rich manuscript tradition of Southeast Asia is well known.Indonesia, for example, is the proud inheritor of manuscripttraditions dating back centuries and representing a wide rangeof languages and literatures. As handmade objects manuscriptsare by definition unique and each one has a value of its own.Thus, if a manuscript is lost to the ravages of age or climateor improper treatment, a unique manifestation of the cultureit stems from will have vanished, too. Such a loss isparticularly distressing in Southeast Asian societies such asIndonesia where only a small fraction of the texts writtendown in manuscripts have ever been edited or published in bookform. (Imagine, by analogy, that the sonnets of Shakespearewere preserved in just a few paper manuscript copies!)Given a tropical climate that makes storage of perishablematerials like paper a daunting task, Indonesia\'smanuscripts have not always fared well and their future

well-being is farfrom assured.

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