Colonial Penang Museum

Penang Colonial Museum (9 August 2015)


Colonial Penang Museum (GPS: 5.429221, 100.306332) is a museum tucked away in the leafy corner of Pulau Tikus, in George Town, Penang. In opened in January, 2015. The museum offers a glimpse into the lifestyle of the rich and famous in colonial Penang. Showcased in the spacious galleries of this double-storey bungalow are items that once graced the Ang3mor3lau2 of the Straits Chinese in their heydays.

I was supposed to have visited it when it first opened, but I never materialize, so by August, Eric Ma, who operates the museum, contacted me once more. Eventually, on 9 August, 2015, my wife and I finally paid our overdue visit. We were received upon arrival by Eric and his mother Jasmine. They then ushered us around and explained to us the vast array of treasures their family had accumulated over the past three generations.



Bureau and cabinet by the famous French cabinet maker François Linke, and reverse painting by William Morris & Co., at the Colonial Penang Museum (9 August 2015)


F. Linke, signature of the master craftsman, as engraved by him on this masterpiece. (9 August 2015)


This fabulous stained glass window by Hubert McGoldrick once graced a home in Penang (9 August 2015)


Garden furniture custom made for the formidable entrepreneur Eu Tong Sen. (9 August 2015)


Contrary to the general assumption that the Baba Nyonya of Penang favoured only Nyonya wares and mother-of-pearl furniture, the Colonial Penang Museum stands as a reminder that the filthy rich of the 19th and early 20th centuries (right up to the Great Depression) were unabashed Anglophiles who gave their mansions English and mock-English names. Mansions in Penang with names like Homestead, Edinburgh House, Columbia Lodge, Limburg, Woodsville and Millview belonged not to Ang3mor2 , but rather to affluent Tng3 Lang2 wishing they were Angmors! Well, the contents of some of these fabulous mansions can now be appreciated right here.

This foldable table once belonged to David Brown, whose properties include the Ayer Rajah Estate, which covers the land on which the museum occupies today. (9 August 2015)


Busts of Louis XVI, last king of France, and his infamous consort Marie Antoinette. Both met their untimely end at the guillotine in 1793. (9 August 2015)


This table set once belonged to a wealthy Indian Muslim merchant. It was custom-made for the merchant and his wife to sit down with his friend and the friend's wife. The men's chairs have padded armrests while the women's chairs are wider, to receive the prosperously voluminous ladies. (9 August 2015)


An exquisite four-poster bed reflects the lavish lifestyle of the colonial past. (9 August 2015)


Jasmine (the owner's mother, at right), explaining the exquisite dressing table that was specially made for a rich man's daughter, to my wife Chooi Yoke (at left). (9 August 2015)


Of course, if you have no appreciation of the colonial past, then the tables and chairs, fans and candelabra will have no meaning to you. What's so special about that table? Made by François Linke? Who's that? And this set of furniture once belonged to David Brown? Who's he? And while the name Eu Tong Sen might not right a bell, his Chinese medical halls - still a household name today - should help to explain why he became so incredibly wealthy. In short, this museum showcases the "Guccis" and the "Armanis" that once belonged to colonial Penang's Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. The more familiar you are with the who's who of the past, the more you would be able to appreciate what you are looking at.

This oval-shaped mirrored table set, and its rounded counterpart in the background, are the only complete set of Baba Nyonya wedding mirrored tables in existence today. (There's another, but not a full set.) The round one is for the groom while the oval, made slightly lower, is for the bride. (9 August 2015)


Table in the shape of Penang Island and a facsimile of a parchment handwritten by Captain Francis Light. (9 August 2015)


And if you do know your history, then a visit to the Colonial Penang Museum will be a worthwhile and meaningful journey into the past. Through this museum, the golden age of the Baba Nyonyas unfolds and reaches out to us, telling us and reminding us once again, that they, the Baba Nyonyas, were a people of discerning taste and style, and it is not beyond them to commission some of the best craftsmen of Europe to create for them the objects of their desires.

I suppose you need a sense of maturity to appreciate this museum. It's not the place for those looking for yet more murals or interactive art. And it's not a place to rush through. Doing so, you will see nothing but old furniture, and you will come out feeling empty and disappointed - and wondering why you had wasted an afternoon visiting it in the first place. But if you slowly go through each piece, pulling yourself a hundred over years back in time, you will begin to appreciate that these are the items that once belonged to those people whose name are engraved in Penang's history, and whose fashion statements from back then form what we know today as Straits Chinese culture.

This ornate writing desk and chair once belonged to an Englishman employed by the East Indies Company, and was brought over to Penang from Calcutta. (9 August 2015)


A close-up shot showing the intricacies of the carvings on the writing desk. (9 August 2015)


Gilded ship, Colonial Penang Museum. (9 August 2015)


My wife and I having a group shot with Jasmine (right), with ourselves repeated in the mirror on the right. (9 August 2015)


Here I am with Eric (left) and Jasmine (centre right) along with my wife Chooi Yoke (far right). (9 August 2015)

How to go to the Colonial Penang Museum

The Colonial Penang Museum (GPS Coordinates: 5.42902, 100.30633) is located at Scott Road (Jalan D.S. Ramanathan), in the bungalow previously occupied by the Penang Senior Citizens Association. If you are coming from the direction of Cantonment Road, it is on your left. There are banners along the road as you approach. The museum is open daily from 9:30 am to 6:30 pm.

Address

7 Jalan D.S. Ramanathan (Scott Road)
Pulau Tikus
10350 Penang
Email: general@colonialpenangmuseum.com

Admission Fees

Adult: RM30 (RM20 with MyKad)
Child (age 5-12 years): RM15 (RM12 with MyKid)

The Colonial Penang Museum is on the Map of Pulau Tikus, Penang

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