Early 20th C. Balinese Keris with Earlier Meteorite Blade, Figural Handle & Zebra Wood Scabbard

This is a wonderful circa early 20th century Balinese keris, or kris, with an ornate zebra wood scabbard and a beautiful meteorite blade. A keris is a dagger with an asymmetrical blade native to Indonesia as well as a handful of neighboring countries. This particular keris has the distinctive "wavy" blade design with lots of texture. The keris has an ornately carved figural handle in the form of a "were-tiger", or a human able to morph into a tiger. The were-tiger looks ferocious enough from the front, but inspection of the back of the handle reveals that he is carrying a drawn and concealed weapon as well. The scabbard is also covered in ornate carvings, and the top of the scabbard is a large boat in which the were-tiger rides when the keris is placed within its scabbard.

Circa early 20th century.

Keris: approximately 22-1/4" in length and 3-3/4" in width (at widest point); blade only: 17" by 3-3/4" in width (at widest point); scabbard only: 21-1/2" by 9" (at widest point).

Meteorite steel, zebra wood, brass, various colored cabochons.

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This is from an old Asian weapons collection which we will be listing more of over the next few months. VBEJX05 LABGEX5/14 SLIGEX03/19 PSAJJJX03/19

8- (Very Fine-Excellent): The keris has some wear to the blade but hardly any wear on any the wood surfaces.

As with all my artifacts, this piece is guaranteed to be original, as described.