The Dr S. T. Lee
Annual Lecture
in
Asian Art and Archaeology
Illumination: The art of the Malay letter
Dr Annabel Teh Gallop
Head, South & Southeast Asian Collections
British Library
Tuesday 26 June 2007 at 4pm
The Refectory, Main Quadrangle
The University of Sydney
Dr Annabel Teh Gallop
Annabel Teh Gallop was brought up in Brunei
Darussalam and studied at Bristol University and at
the School of Oriental and African Studies,
London University. Her doctoral dissertation was
entitled Malay seal inscriptions: a study in Islamic
epigraphy from Southeast Asia, and she is currently
preparing for publication a catalogue of Malay
seals. She joined the British Library in 1986 as
Curator for Indonesian and Malay, and is at present
Head of the South and Southeast Asia section.
Her main research interests are in Malay
manuscripts, letters, documents and seals; chancery
and diplomatic practice in the Malay world; and the
book arts of Islamic Southeast Asia.
In 2003 she organised and taught the British
Library and Birkbeck College, University of
London course, ‘Illuminating the Word: the Art of
the Islamic Book in Southeast Asia’.
Dr Gallop has published three books: Early views of Indonesia: drawings from the British Library (the
British Library, 1995); The legacy of the Malay letter / Warisan warkah Melayu (published by the
British Library for the National Archives of Malaysia, 1994); and Golden letters: writing traditions of
Indonesia / Surat emas: budaya tulis di Indonesia, with Bernard Arps (British Library; Jakarta:
Yayasan Lontar; 1991). She contributed the chapter 'Islamic manuscript art of Southeast Asia'
to the 2005 catalogue Crescent Moon: Islamic Art and Civilisation in Southeast Asia (Art Gallery of
South Australia).
Illumination: The art of the Malay letter
The art of the Islamic book in Southeast Asia is anchored to manuscripts of the Qur’an – the
supreme Book – for it is here that we find the finest manifestations of manuscript art in the
Malay world. The reverence accorded to the Holy Book and its enduring and unchanging text
accordingly exercised a profoundly conservatizing influence on Malay book art. Thus while the
study of Islamic illumination in Southeast Asia has succeeded in identifying a number of
distinctive regional artistic schools, there has been less success in tracing the chronological
development of this art form.
On the other hand, the art of the Malay letter, like many aspects of diplomatic practice, evolved
relatively quickly in constant response to external stimuli. Nearly one hundred illuminated royal
Malay epistles have survived, spanning a period of nearly four centuries, originating from courts
as far-flung as Ternate, Aceh and Madura, and these letters can be studied alongside a similar
number of illuminated letters in Malay sent from European officials to Indonesian and Malay
rulers. This reasonably substantial body of evidence enables us to begin to unravel and identify
the various influences and cross-currents that shaped Malay letter illumination, and to arrive at a
preliminary mapping of the evolution of the art of the Malay letter.
Dr S. T Lee
Dr Lee Seng Tee was born in 1923 in Singapore.
He is a director of the Lee Group of Companies –
Lee Rubber Co., Lee Pineapple Co., Singapore
Investments, and the Lee Foundation, in the
Republic of Singapore. He is a graduate of the
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He
has had a life-long association with tertiary
education. His father, Dr Lee Kong Chian, was
Chancellor of the University of Singapore from
1962-1965. Lee Seng Tee has made many
benefactions to Academic and Research institutions
worldwide. In addition to sponsoring the annual
lecture in Asian Art & Archaeology at the
University of Sydney, Dr Lee generously supports
the work of the Sydney University team at Angkor.
Dr Lee has also supported the Sino-Himalayan
Bamboo Project at the Royal Botanic Gardens,
Kew, UK, the Science and Civilisation in China
Project, Needham Research Institute, University of
Cambridge, and libraries at Wolfson College,
University of Cambridge; Oriel College, University
of Oxford; the Bodleian Library, University of
Oxford and the Institute of Advanced Studies,
University of Bristol.
Dr Lee has established 15 S.T. Lee Annual Lectures worldwide at: American Academy of Arts
& Sciences; Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Institute for International
Studies, Stanford University; School of Arts & Sciences, University of Pennsylvania; The British
Academy, Public Policy, University of Cambridge; Chancellor’s Centre of Graduate Studies,
University of Cambridge; All Saints College, University of Oxford; Oriel College, University of
Oxford; University of Bochum, Germany; University of Alaska-Fairbanks; Victoria University
of Wellington, N Z; University of Sydney, Australia; Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, Santiago and
University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Lee Seng Tee’s contributions to scholarship have been acknowledged by the award of an
Honorary Research Associate of the Faculty of Arts in the University of Sydney; an Honorary
Fellowship of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge; the Distinguished Service Award of
the Wharton Alumni Association; an Honorary Fellowship of the British Academy; a Doctor of
Technology, Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand; an Honorary Fellowship, School of
Oriental and African Studies, University of London; a Foreign Honorary Membership of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences; a Companion of the Guild of Benefactors, University
of Cambridge; an Honorary Fellowship of Chartered Institute of Library and Information
Professionals; Membership of the Advisory Committee, East Asia Institute, University of
Cambridge; an Honorary Fellowship of the Needham Research Institute, University of
Cambridge; an Honorary Fellowship at Oriel, University of Oxford and membership of the
University’s Court of Benefactor’s, University of Oxford.