Provenance Report Staatsiekris (Keris Klungkung)

The provenance investigation concerning the kris, inventory number RV-3600-193 in the collection of Museum Volkenkunde, which is part of the National Museum of World Cultures (NMVW), has confirmed that the weapon was looted by the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army in April 1908 during the puputan (“fight to the end” ritual) in Klungkung (Bali).

The provenance investigation was unable to establish whether this happened on the battlefield or afterwards in the Royal Palace of Klungkung. It was similarly not established whether the kris was the property of Dewa Agung Jambe II, the ruler of Klungkung, or someone close to him. Some of the spoils of war taken by the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army from Klungkung in November 1908 were shipped to the Netherlands.

The objects were divided up between a number of museums, with the kris being transferred in March 1909 to the Ethnographic Museum of the Royal Military Academy (KMA) in Breda, whose collection was taken over in 1956 by Museum Volkenkunde.