A history of beauty

HUMAN HISTORY IS rich with stories about the search for treasure and beauty. The Asian Civilisations Museum is celebrating that history with two new galleries that focus on jewellery, and fashion and textiles. Its ceramics gallery has also been refreshed.

On display are over 300 exquisitely crafted garments, accessories and decorative art from the past, deemed to be some of the finest objects of their time. In some cases, their beauty and magnificence have held up well, and they gleam and sparkle in the museum's darkened spaces, as if they were created only yesterday.

In the Jewellery gallery, for instance, there is a stunning peacock belt made out of linked gold panels and 75 carats of brilliant-cut diamonds. Though its exact provenance is unknown, the museum infers from its material, style and motifs that it was likely commissioned by a rich Peranakan woman.