329. Brunei Silverware, Malay

A Collection of Brunei Silver Objects

The collection includes a small, shallow silver dish called a pinggan incised at its centre with a Malay kris and of Islamic star form, two bowls typically used as rice scoops, a cylindrical cigarette box, a match box cover, a serving platter, and three small boxes and covers associated with betel use. Each of the larger pieces is chased and repoussed with the scrolling bunga air muleh (water plant) design. Brunei’s main settlement is along and over a river (many houses are on stilts) and so the water plant motif which comprises an elongated, fleshy creeper of a form that would need to be supported by water is a distinguishing characteristic of Brunei silverwork. The silver used is high-grade but thinly hammered. Several pieces are stamped with a maker’s mark, ‘Baroon’, in Arabic.

a similar example of Brunei silverwork is shown in Fraser-Lu, S., Silverware of South-East Asia, Oxford University Press, 1989. p. 85.