Monday, May 09, 2005
Once on a bus towards Orchard Road, it travelled past the old Stamford Library. There was a giant standing advertisement highlighting the exhibits in the Ancient Civilization Museum (ACM). I caught sight of two words “Peranakan Legacy”. Immediately, I told myself I must visit the museum soon.
This day was yesterday. I had the time to visit ACM after my friend “飞" 我.
I walked from Bugis Junction to Armenian Street. Upon entering, there were two ladies and one security guard at the other end of the marble walkway. Then one of them asked, ” Why am I here?” I thought it was strange they would asked such obvious questions and even told me that there are exhibits in levels 2 and 3. The way they chat with me seemed like they hadn’t seen any customer in hours.
I went up to level 2 and slowly read through the exhibits that are being displayed. At section 3, there was a brief history of Peranakans as well as their origins. There was an explaination that Admiral Cheng He, an eunuch, escorted Chinese Princess Hung Li Po for a marriage with a Sultan in Malaysia at that time so descendants from then on were called Straits born Chinese who are Peranakans. They adopted various Chinese and Malay traditions and customs. In section 4 there were a number of elaborate embroidery. There were items that look like hand phone socks but were actually used as spectacle covers.
Then on the next exhibit, I was mesmerized by a wedding bolster cover that was elaborately sewn with ½ mm beads to form lifelike designs of peonies and magpies. There was a border of peonies and a giant peony in the middle with magpies resting on leaves below the peony. The peony has various shades of pink to highlight the various layering of petals, it was so beautiful. I hope I can find this kind of masterpieces one day in Malacca. On another display was three sarong kebayas, one design was usually worn by Penang Peranakans, the one in the middle from olden day sarong kebayas and lastly a modern day sarong kebaya. The last kebaya left a much more impression on me as the sarong batik design looks similar to the one my grandmother used to wear. Without knowing it, tears seemed to welt up in my eyes. After that there were more displays of batik.
Another interesting exhibit was this wedding bed. The wedding bed is supported by red lacquered wood with gold carvings. There were richly colourful curtains that cover the bed which are held back by metallic curtain hooks with designs when unused. Hanging from the top frame of the bed were metallic flower shaped baskets that could be used to contain scented flowers. Even though the bed may look small but it can still fit two people in bliss. For wedding Peranakan couples, usually the bride had a traditional wedding dress and the groom usually dressed in Chinese court official robes. I sighted a red and gold cabinet as high as 2m which I remembered seeing a similar set in my uncle’s house. The next section featured brooches and jewellary Peranakan ladies wear. As traditional Peranakan sarong kebayas had no buttons, they needed brooches to fasten. Quite often the brooches are lavishly and intricately designed.
Finally, there was porcelain crockery that was colourful and nicely designed. Crockery came in different sizes with plates, bowls, teapots, cups, saucers, spoons etc in a variety of colours like lilac, yellow, lime green and never blue as blue is meant for mourning even for clothes. Besides colours that adorned these porcelains, there are many designs on the crockery like peonies, magpies, dragons, phoenixes etc.
After feeling like I was transported to the old days of the matriarchs and patriarchs, I had to leave the exhibits behind reluctantly. However, This sense of identity and familiarity would never leave me.
Dreams never come true
12:00 am
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