Description (Labels & Markings)
Paper label adhered to object with printed text reads: '13 A Y'. This likely corresponds to field collection numbers used by W.W. Skeat.
Event Date
Author: rachel hand

Context (Field collection)
This object was collected by Walter William Skeat, District Magistrate of Larut, Perak, in the Kuala Langat District of Selangor, Malaysia, 1896-1897.
Event Date 1897
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Catalogue of First Skeat Collection (1899), nos 225-261 (a): 'Embroidered ends for pillows, surutun, viz.: (1) seventeen richly decorated for the special pillows used by the bride and bridegroom: fifteen for a large kind of pillow, the bantal bertekat, and two for a smaller pillow, the b. susun [see No.714]; (2) eleven for large pillows, the b. be'sar for ordinary use; (3) one small pillow susor azi; and (4) a pair of side strips for a similar pillow; (5) one end for a small triangular pillow, the gunong-gunong (i.e. the little mountain) which is placed on the b. besar (No.2); and five ends for large bolsters, the b. saraga (see Nos. 999 and 1000)'
Event Date 1899
Author: maa

Context (References)
Listed as No. 225-261 in the Catalogue of the First Skeat Collection: Skeat, Walter W. 1899. The Skeat Collection. Catalogue of the Ethnological Collection from the Malay Peninsula presented to the University in 1898 by the Collector. University of Cambridge: Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Event Date 1899
Author: rachel hand

Context (Acquisition Details)
The 14th Annual Report (1899) noted that 'Mr Walter W. Skeat, M.A., District Magistrate of Larut, Selangor, Perak, has presented his extensive collection of Malay and Sakei weapons, implements, costumes, models, etc., comprising over a thousand specimens. This collection, the result of many years residence in the country, fills a considerable gap in the Museum series, and is the more valuable as many of the objects it embraces are actually no longer in use among the people, or are being rapidly displaced by European goods. By Grace, 10 February, 1898, Reporter, p. 486, the thanks of the University were offered to the donor for this most valuable gift.
The cost of packing and conveyance to Singapore was defrayed by the donor; while his father, Professor Skeat, generously paid the expenses of transit from Singapore to Cambridge; so that the collection was received by the University free of cost'.

Listed in the 14th Annual Report (1899) 'Appendix II Skeat Collection./This collection was formed by the donor, Mr Walter W. Skeat, M.A., District Magistrate of Larut, Perak, in the Kuala Langat District of Selangor in the years 1896 and 1897'.
Event Date 1899
Author: rachel hand

Description (Physical description)
An embroidered rectangular pillow.
Event Date 13/12/2021
Author: rachel hand

Context (Amendments / updates)
W.W. Skeat made two collections in Southeast Asia. The first was made while he was District Magistrate in Selangor, Malaysia in 1896-1897 and is known as the First Skeat Collection or Skeat I. The Second was made in 1899-1900 on the Cambridge Exploring Expedition to the Malay Provinces of Lower Siam and known as the Second Skeat Collection, or Skeat II. Most objects were not given accession numbers on acquisition by MAA, and given Z Numbers during reorganisation in the 1980s. Several objects presumed to be from the Skeat Collections, but which cannot be traced either to an existing Z number or to Skeat’s catalogues, have been given TEMP numbers. Some of these are definitely Skeat, and some are not. The work of matching objects to their Skeat catalogue numbers is ongoing and likely to remain incomplete.
Event Date 21/10/2024
Author: rachel hand

Conservation (Freezing)
CON.2024.6105 | Freezing
Event Date 28/11/2024
Author: Kirsty Kernohan