The keris occupies a singular position in the material culture of maritime Southeast Asia, simultaneously weapon, heirloom, spiritual repository, and social emblem. This entry presents two related but most likely not originally paired components: in the upper register, the keris with its luk-5 blade and plain ivory hilt, and below, a scabbard whose form and fittings point to a different regional tradition from the hilt above.
The blade shows five waves (luk-5), associated in the Javanese typological literature with protective and stabilizing energies. The surface has darkened with age to a grey-green patination characteristic of an iron-nickel composite blade, with lighter pamor striations visible against the darker iron ground. The hilt is a plain recurved pistol-grip form in ivory or pale bone with a small brass mendak (collar or spacer ring) and a rounded selut (also a collar or spacing ring); the absence of figurative carving places it in the everyday or minor aristocratic rather than courtly category, comparable in disposition to H01 among the hilt-only entries, where uncarved material quality is itself the primary element in focus.
The wrongko (scabbard) body in reddish-brown hardwood with its broad flaring mouth, and the long cylindrical gandar with metal ferrule, correspond to forms associated with the Bugis-Makassar tradition of Sulawesi. The braided cord loop and leather carrying strap with age-related surface loss are consistent with use over time.
