By Verne Maree
Issue 90 - January 2010

Oriental Home Collection
Ang Hian Eng, Owner

What is your favourite item in the shop?
I have chosen this praying table ($2,680). The person who is praying would sit in front of it, and incense would be burning on it. Incense calms you down and helps you meditate. The top is covered with the original dragon painting, which has been partly restored.

Where is it from and how old is it?
It’s a Tibetan piece, over a hundred years old, and was sourced through our dealers in China.
   
What do you like most about it? What makes it special?
Its rarity. Praying tables for the home are not common, because ordinary people don’t pray in this way at home, so these are unusual items that are hard to find. This is the first genuine one I’ve seen. Reproductions tend to be a bit bigger than this, and genuine praying tables from temples are much bigger.

What have you done to it?
We installed the three drawers in front to add practicality and interest, using the existing painted panels that were there. When restoring an old piece, you need specialists who know what to change and what not to change, to do the minimum required and to do it in such a way as to best enhance its beauty and retain its value.

About Oriental Home Collection

Being so close to three temples – an Indian, a Chinese and a Malay – must ensure triply good karma for this store. It’s a family business – the family also owns Woody’s, at Dempsey. Hian Eng visits China once or twice a year to check on the smooth running of their factory, which sees to the restoration of genuine antiques and also produces the reproduction pieces you can find here.

It’s fascinating to wander around this big, spacious Chinatown shophouse and learn some of the finer points of Tibetan versus Mongolian versus Chinese antiques. Pictures of bats means the piece is Chinese, I’m told: the Chinese word for “bat” and “prosperity” sound alike.

 

237 South Bridge Road
+65 6227 7194