NORTH JAVA, possibly 9th - 11th century
KRIS AND SCABBARD
steel blade decorated on each side in relief with three standing priest figures and a winged elephant, the scabbard of wood with a modelled ivory crosspiece; the bone hilt carved in the form of a demon, raksasa, wearing a snake for a necklace
47.0 cm height overall; hilt 10.0 cm height
Donald Friend's Bali, an exhibition arranged in conjunction with the Donald Friend Retrospective, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 9 February – 25 March 1990
Donald Friend's Bali, Art Gallery of New South Wales and The Beagle Press, Sydney, 1990, cat. 91, p. 62 (illus.)
In a detailed drawing of the blade and hilt attached to one of his diaries (October 1972) Donald Friend writes that the kris dated to the 9th-10th centuries and was bought to Bali in the 14th century by Gajah Mada. This hilt style is known as Java demang, elsewhere in Indonesia. IMPORTANT NOTICE: PERMITS Under the provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), buyers may be required to obtain an export permit for certain categories of items in this sale from the Wildlife Trade Regulation Section, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, GPO Box 787, Canberra ACT 2601, Tel. 02 6274 1900, or email: [email protected] Attention is drawn to clauses pertaining to export in the prospective buyers and sellers guide.Details on the law, and how to obtain a Chief Commissioner Approval, can be found at: http://www.police.vic.gov.au/content.asp?Document_ID=25561 and http://www.police.vic.gov.au/content.asp?Document_ID=25560