Most Scarce, Rare & Stunning, Antique Balinese Ceremonial Executioner's Keris Complete With Original Gold Alloy & Cabouchon Decorated Hilt Depicting Bayu Seated On a Rock. The Hindu God of Wind, 17th to 18th Century Blade Likely Made From Meteorite Steel

Not only a rare and beautiful example of an antique Indonesian traditional weapon of high status, it is a stunning work of art, with a spectacular hilt that is a gilt alloy representational figure of Bayu, seated on a rock, the Hindu god of wind, with his right hand holding the flask with life-elixir, the left, a part of his shawl, and his face has the traditional ferocious expression with bulging eyes, and similarly it is studded with extravagant coloured glass cabouchon beads. It is very rare to see such fine object d'art still mounted upon their blades, as they all once were. In the 19th century it was very usual to removed tsuch hilts from their knives and mount them for cabinet display. the very few that still survive are mounted as such, and it is incredibly rare to to find one still complete and in one piece.

It has a very nice, very long blade, of the traditionally Balinese ceremonial executioner's form. In many parts of Indonesia, the long straight bladed kris used to be the weapon of choice for ceremonial execution. The executioner's kris had a long, straight, slender blade exactly as this fine piece. The condemned knelt before the executioner, who placed a wad of cotton or similar material on the subject's shoulder or clavicle area. The blade was thrust through the padding, piercing the subclavian artery and the heart. Upon withdrawal, the cotton wiped the blade clean. Death came within seconds.

This is stunningly nice piece and a most unusually seen variation of these interesting weapons, called the Kris or Keris. Fine, Indonesian antique, gold coloured metal sword hilts of Bayu, studded with glass beads such as this, are rare and highly collectable, and they occasionally appear, on the collector's market, frequently mounted on a base, without their blades, and sold as Asian Object D'art.

In Sale No.2501, lot 601, at Christie's, in their sale of Asian Ceramics and Works of Art, on the 8 May 2001, in Amsterdam, a wooden pedestal mounted gold alloy figure of this very type and kind, also studded with similar glass beads. It sold at auction 24 years ago for $9,390 US Dollars. But, it no longer complete with its original kris knife
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