Treasures for Suffolk House

Penang soon can boost another heritage project and may help in its effort to be listed under UNESCO listing.

Below is the article on The Star posted on Wednesday April 2, 2008.

Treasures for Suffolk House

By ANDREA FILMER

WITH a little luck, the Suffolk House, Penang’s sole surviving Georgian residential architecture, will be opened to the public by the end of the year.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the state government hoped to revive the house, which was first built in the 1780s in a pepper estate owned by Captain Francis Light, into a cultural, historical and art collection centre.

Lim was speaking to reporters on a visit to the home of antiquity collector Jasmine Tan, who had offered the majority of her collection on loan to be displayed at the Suffolk House.

“With this offer, we hope we can get things moving again at the Suffolk House that has been recently refurbished and renovated,” Lim said.

Guan Eng (third from right) taking a closer look at an antique marble table.
Taking up antique and art collection in 1982, Tan and her husband’s collection includes historic items in Malaysian history as well as European fine furniture, marble statuary and architectural items from the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Among items available for loan to the state government is a handwritten document by Captain Light dated 1794 pertaining to land on the Prince of Wales Island.

“This is the oldest item in the collection that I managed to obtain through the years,” Tan said.
Lining the walls and walkways of Tan’s house are precious artwork and several stained glass windows rumoured to be made by William Morris, a principal founder of the Arts and Crafts movement in Britain.

A pair of Baba Nyonya bridal tables (left foreground) made with mother of pearl and Venetian glass are among Jasmine's antique collection.

Also on display to reporters were a beautiful wooden table with a marble top fashioned in the shape of the Penang state made in 1874 in Calcutta, a 19th century Srard piano, marble furniture once belonging to Eu Tong Sen (one of Ma-laya’s most successful and wealthy tin miners) and a pair of Baba Nyonya bridal tables made with mother of pearl and Venetian glass.

“Penang is linked by history to other straits settlements, so a lot of items in this collection are highly prized by other countries as well. “Thankfully, these items are still in Penang thanks to Tan and her family, and I think it is important for us to retain them here and not lose these pieces of history,” Lim said.

He also urged other collectors to come forward to offer pieces to be displayed at the Suffolk House.

Tan, on the other hand, thought it would be nice to share her prized possessions with the public after enjoying them personally.

“I have been to the Suffolk House and there’s nothing much inside, so I thought that it would be a good idea to use the collection to help promote and boost tourism in the state,” Tan said.

A 19th century Srard piano made in Paris in one of Tan's most prized possessions.
Penang State Museum Board curator Haryany Mohamad, who was present at the visit to assess some of the items, said it would take at least six months to catalogue all the pieces.
“We will also have to look into the placement and security of the pieces at the Suffolk House before any movement can be made,” she said.

State Tourism Development, Culture, Arts and Heritage Committee chairman Danny Law Heng Kiang, state executive councillors Lydia Ong Kok Fooi and Lim Hock Seng as well as Bukit Mertajam MP Chong Eng were also present at the visit.