The Dragon Exhibition: Images In Material Culture at the Perak Museum, Taiping, reveals the dragon’s reach far beyond China — appearing in Malay, Japanese, Korean, Indian, European and Latin American traditions, each culture shaping its own vision of the mythical beast.
Perak Museum Department director Mohd Nasrulamiazam Mohd Nasir says the exhibition – that runs through January 2026 – aims to highlight the dragon as a mythical creature that has existed across time in cultures worldwide.
"This exhibition showcases a range of artefacts, photographs and texts featuring dragons in material culture, such as wood carvings, textiles, sculptures, ceramics and metalwork from different cultural backgrounds,” said Mohd Nasrulamiazam.
He added historical research showed that the origins of dragon worship in South-East Asia remain uncertain, although some scholars suggest that local communities borrowed the idea from India and adapted it into their own cultures.
There are still debates and unanswered questions about when and how Indian dragon elements were combined into serpent-dragon worship in South-East Asia.
"Previous studies found that dragon worship and belief in serpent spirits already existed in South-East Asia before the arrival of the major religions in the region. Clear examples for researchers can be seen in the remnants of indigenous serpent cult traditions, such as the dragon and hornbill traditions of the Dayak Ngadju community in Kalimantan, Indonesia, which exist till today.
"Apart from that, when rulers became actively involved in maritime trade, they began invoking the ‘Dragon spirit’ to dominate sea territories and to obtain new resources,” he said.
Mohd Nasrulamiazam added that compared to Indonesia, the use of dragon motifs in Malaysia is very limited.
"The use of dragon motifs on cultural objects such as jars, pottery, ceramics, kettles or gongs showed that these objects were to some extent influenced by external cultures, especially Javanese, Siamese and Chinese," he said.
Nevertheless, there are some discoveries of tools produced by the Malays in the past that featured the dragon as a theme in their carvings.
"In the context of woodcarving, dragon motifs were sometimes created by Malay craftsmen, particularly in carvings for boat prows, quail traps and weapon hilts.
"Similarly, in metalwork, certain cannons such as the ‘lela rentaka’ incorporated dragon head designs on the barrel or handles,” he said.
Mohd Nasrulamiazam said the various dragon collections on display at the exhibition were sourced from the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur and the Perak Museum.
He added that the Perak Museum expects more than 100,000 people to visit the exhibition, which is scheduled to end on Jan 31 next year. – Bernama
