The Last Carriage

Posted by Keith under Uncategorised
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A prominent Chinese pioneer, Tan Jiak Kim passed away in 1917 and an intricate hearse was constructed for his funeral.

The funeral vehicle deteriorated over the years, becoming small fragments. The Heritage Conservation Centre undertook a huge project to restore it. It was a difficult task as they had no idea how the intact hearse looked like. They used photographs of Chinese funerals in the early 20th century as references. It took 5 men a whooping 655 hours to clean the ‘jigsaw puzzle pieces’!

After assembling most pieces, some missing parts had to be reconstructed. One significant part to be reconstructed was the left rear wheel, essential for the hearse to stand otherwise rendering it unfit for display. It was one of the rare decisions made by the conservators and museum curator. More information on the project can be found at the Heritage Conservation Centre website.

It’s wonderful that such intricate objects are being conserved despite the enormous efforts. The hearse, now on display at the National Museum of Singapore, will cause more people to know about Tan Jiak Kim and his great contributions to our society. Splendid!