An Afternoon Stroll Through Malacca's Antique Row

View Photos (1)

Malacca's antique row is the place where "junk" has been traded since the time of the Dutch in the 17th century. Incidentally, Jonker means junk in Dutch. I had bought my first antiques, from a shop on Jonker Street in historical Malacca. The three shot glasses, with their gold enamelled rims and blue flowers were a little dull. Aged with dirt, they had seen better days, probably in the hands of a wealthy Peranakan Baba or Nyonya. The Peranakans or Straits-born Chinese are a community unique to Malacca, Penang and Singapore.

I suspect the old, rather weathered-round-the-edges lacquer box was a jewellery box but your guess is as good as mine, for the Peranakans or Straits Chinese in Malacca had boxes made expressly to contain the range of items associated with betel-nut or sireh chewing. The square box, 3" by 3", has flower edgings on all sides. A lotus flower, in shades of pink, adorns the lid.

Jonker Street or Jalan Hang Jebat as it is known now, is lined with many antique shops, art galleries, restaurants and itinerant hawkers. There's also a shop that sells custom handmade Peranakan beaded slippers and bags. Our friendly cabbie told us Jonker Street plays host to a pasar malam or a night market on Thursdays. The antique shops, relics in their own right, house anything and everything and are veritable treasure chests. Walking around these shops we found all manner of things including furniture (bed frames, cupboards, drawers, tables, chairs, chandeliers, Venetian mirrors), appliances (grandfather clocks, gramophones, radios, irons [those old ones, heated by coal]), ceramic crockery (both Chinese and Victorian) and paraphernalia of the Nyonya (sireh boxes, silver belts, brooches or keronsangs, beaded purses) and the list goes on.

If you like quaint old tiles, you have come to the right place. Antique imported tiles that once paved the homes on Jalan Tun Cheng Lock or Millionaires Row as it was known in its heyday can be found at Jonker Street. One need only walk along Jalan Tun Cheng Lock, which is parallel to Jonker Street to view the shell of these once great houses.

The draw of shopping for antiques or everyday things of a bygone era lies in its connection with the past. The sense of wonder and curiosity...... If these antiques could speak, what tales will they regale their new owners with! Who was its previous owner, how did the item come about? was it custom-made (as was often the practice with the merchants of old Malacca)? How did they come to be in a second-hand shop or antique dealership? Did the fortunes of their owners wane or had they simply tired of these ostentatious possessions? We can only speculate!

Aside from shopping for antiques, one can also shop for souvenirs, savour the food (a hodge-podge of Chinese, Peranakan, Malay, Portuguese dishes) and view the ornate plasterworks and mouldings adorning the façade of these shophouses.

All in all, a most thought provoking day, travelling through time and space at Jonker Street, Malacca on a tropical afternoon.

* * * * *

Published on 10/29/03