KUCHING: A unique Iban war jacket is among various historical artefacts received by the Sarawak Museum Department this year, the state legislative assembly was told.
State Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the item was donated by Mark A. Johnson, an antiques collector from Los Angeles.
"The jacket features an interesting design blending traditional and modern Iban motifs," he said in his winding-up speech on Tuesday (Dec 2).
Karim said the department also received 26 ethnographic artefacts originally collected in the 1960s by Monica Platt, an Iban woman married to New Zealander Philip Platt, who was a former staff member of the Sarawak Land and Survey Department.
The items, which were donated by Platt's daughter Teresa, included brassware and silverware, wood carvings, a miniature cannon, a gong, a parang, kain kebat (Iban ceremonial skirt) and a spear.
Karim also said 13 traditional fishing tools were donated by Mei Ang, a researcher who studied the Orang Ulu community in Baram in the 1970s.
He said another important donation was an old Malay brass container from Asajaya villager Simi Yah.
"The brass container is estimated to be around 100 years old and shows how food was stored in the past," he said.
In addition, he said an anonymous donor from the Netherlands contributed eight ethnographic items from the estate of Barbara Harrisson, an anthropologist who was also the wife of former Sarawak Museum curator Tom Harrisson.
"The public is encouraged to donate artefacts with significant historical value to add to the museum's collection," he added.
