• Angsana or sena (Vterocarpus indicus), a deep orange-gold hardwood, which is sometimes used for making keris sheaths, but never keris handles. Woodcarvers regard it as the most suitable wood for traditional Malay furniture and it is also quite popular for house construction.
Carpenters working by the river in Kelantan at the end of the 19th century. Newly felled tree trunks were floated downriver to a processing shed where they were cut into planks to facilitate transport by the small, narrow boats that plied these rivers. Photograph reproduced by permission of the Syndics of the Cambridge University Library.
Other woods known for their particularly strong semangat include medang hitam (Litsea myristicaefolia) and nangka (jackfruit, Artocarpus heterophyllus). These woods were often employed in the construction of the ceremonial Burung Berarak, a mythical giant bird which was often paraded during important festivities and state rituals in the northern kingdoms of Pattani and Kelantan. They were also used in the production of masks (topeng), another important cultural totem in the world of Malay art and cultural performances. Similar requirements held sway in other parts of the Malay archipelago, especially in Java and Bali, where masks and other sacred objects for public rituals were deemed important enough to be given individualized treat-ment and were made of special materials.5
Malay architects and builders have also always harboured preferences. Their favourite woods include jati (teak, Tectona grandis), cengal (Neobalanocarpus heimii), and merbau (Intsia palembanica). All are black to brownish in colour and so dense that they can blunt even the hardiest of carving instruments. These woods are thought to be particularly good for constructing the beams and pillars of Malay houses as they are extremely durable and resistant to infestation. The other parts of the house are often made from different types of lesser woods, such as balau (Shorea spp.), resak (Vatica spp.), perah (Elateriospernum tapos) and sepetir (Sindora spp.).
Other popular and commonly used woods include:
• Gaharu (aloe wood, Aquilaria malaccensis), a pitch black, shiny wood which is often thought to have both spiritual and medicinal properties. It is often used for keris handles in the other parts of the archipelago.
CEREMONIAL BED FRAME (RT006a)
Pattani, date unknown, nangka, angsana, merbau and teak woods, 205.18 x 215.4 x 182.1 cm
The frame shown here is the front section of a royal four-poster bed reputed to eject any commoner who attempted to sleep on it. The bed takes the form of a traditional Chinese wedding bed with rails, subtly curved and notched in the Malay style, and panelling around three sides. The fourth, open side of the bed contains delicate tracery composed of bunga kerak nasi flowers and leaves and daun sesayap edged with delicate ribbons almost resembling bed curtains. The front of the massive base is decorated with kerak nasi leaves. The legs at the back are carved with a similar curving outline but are devoid of ornamentation. A top frame, designed to support a mosquito net, is also moulded and painted. The bed appears to have its original scarlet and indigo colours. The carvings are all richly gilded.
The merbau (Intsia palembanica) (above) is a reddish hardwood often used instead of cengal in building. The halban (Vitex spp.) (below) is a small tree commonly found growing next to rice fields. Its wood, which is dense, heavy and resistant to rot, is widely used for making domestic artefacts.
• Cendana (sandalwood, Santalum album) which is prized for its fragrant scent and is often used for both sculptures and carvings, as well as for medicinal purposes.
• Gemia (Bouea microphylla), a reddish hardwood which is often used for making keris handles and sheaths but is not used for furniture.
• Setar (Bouea macrophylla), a reddish-brown hardwood that is used for keris handles in the Malay Peninsula but for little else.
• Celagi (Tamarindus indica), known locally as asam jawa, often used for the handles of parang (cutting knifes).
• Halban (Vitex pubescens), a brownish to dull grey wood.
• Vauh hutan, a dark red wood that is sufficiently hard to be used for keris handles.
• Bongor (Lagerstroemia speciosa), which is reddish-brown in colour.
• Ketengga (Memillia caloxylon), a yellowish-brown wood which, like bongor, is only used for making keris sheaths but never keris handles or furniture. Nor is it used in the construction of houses and other buildings.
In other parts of the Malay archipelago we come across other woods, such as the deep brownish tajuman (Cassia laevigata willa), the sawo (Achras zapota), the trembalo (Djsoxylum acutangulum) and the tomoho or pelet (Kleinhovia hospita). These woods are very popular in Java, Bali and Sumatra. Needless to say, like their counterparts in the Malay Peninsula, the woodcarvers of Indonesia have evolved their own complex (and at times confounding) belief systems surrounding these woods. The most important observation that needs to be made is that the woodcarvers of the Malay world share a common understanding and respect for the material they work with. For the wood-carvers of the archipelago, there are a number of cardinal rules and protocols to beobserved and one of these is the belief that the best wood should be reserved for the carving of sculptures. It goes without saying that the best sculpture in the Malay world is found in the carving of keris hilts (hulu keris).
While woodcarvers in Java or Bali seem to favour woods of contrasting colours and flamboyant grains, among them tomoho/pelet and trembalo, Malay woodcarvers of the peninsula arc more partial to woods such as kemuning and kenaung because of their subtler coloration and patterns.
All of these Malaysian woods are thought to possess semangat properties in various degrees. The magnificent kemuning, in particular, was thought to have strong semangat, and the adab of finding, cutting and working the kemuning wood formed a universe of its own.
In the past, the kemuning was regarded as the tree of the Dewi (Primordial Goddess), and it was reserved for the use of kings and nobles. It was so highly sought after that it was almost impossible to find the tree growing naturally near any human settlement, for its discovery meant that it was almost certain to be cut down. The tree was sometimes referred to as 'the tree with a hundred and one uses'. Woodcarvers would wax eloquent about its merits: its grain did not destroy the quality of their work and did not distract the eye of the admirer; the wood was hard enough to be used for the hilts of weapons, yet light to the touch and easy to work. Many varieties of kemuning were used, including the kemuning limau (lemon yellow kemuning), kemuning buah lada (peppercorn kemuning) and kemuning buah kekut (cherry fruit kemuning).
Sultan Muhammad V of Kelantan and his son outside the gates of the Balai Besar, Kota Bharu. The fine pemeleh pintu over the doorway is in the form of a gunungan, with foliate sulurbayu, and is protected from the worst of the elements by a shallow roof. The waistcloths of the Sultan and his son are looped over the hilts of their keris as protection against any ill-effects of the camera. The photograph was taken by Sir Frank Swettenham during his visit to the Kelantan capital in October 1902, when he tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade the Sultan to join the Federated Malay States. Photograph reproduced by permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library.
The best kemuning wood came from trees that had died naturally. Woodcarvers might spend weeks, or even months, in search of such treasure in the deep jungles of the peninsula. A find in the forest was the woodcarver's equivalent of discovering a gold mine, and the whereabouts of such a prized hoard would be a closely guarded secret. (This is hardly surprising when we consider that in the past samples of the best kemuning were thought to be more valuable