Malay Traditional Shirt (Baju Melayu) Collected by Colonial Official Leonard Wray

This traditional striped Malay shirt comes with important provenance – it was collected by Leonard Wray (1852-1942) who held many positions in colonial Perak on the Malay Peninsula in the late 19th century and early 20th century, including serving as Curator, at the Perak State Museum, and later as Director of Museums.

The shirt is known as a baju Melayu, and is made from cotton textile woven on the Malay Peninsula, probably Pahang. It is coloured with green, red and indigo dyes. It has a low collar, is partly open from the neck and this is secured with three buttons. There is a wide pocket on each side.

Importantly, it has an attached label handwritten in the hand of Leonard Wray. It reads: ‘Man’s jacket called Baju’.

The Malay baju or loose tunic was worn over a sarong, and with a cap (songkok) or wound head scarf.

The example here is in excellent condition.

Leonard Wray (1852-1942) was a colonial British official who was born in Perak on the Malay Peninsula. He joined the Public Works Department of the Perak Civil Service in June 1881; worked as Superintendent at the Government Hill Garden, Larut, January 1882; and was appointed Curator at the Perak State Museum in Taiping, Perak, in January 1883. He collected and prepared the Perak exhibits for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition held in London in 1886. He was appointed State Geologist, Perak, in January 1890; and served as Director of Museums, 1904-08. He also collected Malay artefacts in a private capacity and donated some of his collection to the British Museum in the 1930s. Wray made an important contribution to the preservation of knowledge of Malay material culture and was also important in extending knowledge of traditional Malay ways beyond the Malay Peninsula.

Above: this early photograph shows three men in traditional Malay dress. The man standing on the left is wearing a striped baju Melayu similar to the example here.