Dagger

Small dagger with blade and handle forged from the same piece of iron. The blade is double-edged, straight, with no watery patterning (pamor). The handle is a seated human figure, bending forward and sideways. At top of blade, one side, the numbers 29-J-64-L. Majahapit style, possibly from the era of the Javanese Majahapit kingdom (1293 to circa 1500). An example of the oldest type of a class of daggers called kris, defined by the widening at one side of the blade base. Kris are not only weapons but also works of art and objects of mythical, ritual, and ceremonial significance: in 2005, UNESCO gave the title “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” to the kris of Indonesia.

Simple straight blade; no pamor; small hilt forged from same piece of iron as blade, in early kris Majapahit style (Frey 10 Fig f); seated deity whose head extends forward.