Published on January 31, 2005

A Thai-French woman plans to donate 138 artefacts – many of which are thousands of years old – to the National Museum.

The official donation ceremony will take place on February 18.

Donor Pahpirun Ghose said the antique items belonged to her late parents, Yong and Germaine Pholabun, and she believed the collection would be more useful if it became a national asset rather than remaining in her possession.

“We are going to award her a certificate of honour and free admission to the National Museum,” the museum’s director Somchai na Nakhon Panom said yesterday.

Her collection includes pieces of Ban Chiang porcelain dating from 1,800 to 4,500 years ago; antique blue-and-white China, as well as ancient tools, implements and other personal belongings. These include clothes boxes, ivory-handled knives and looms.

“We do appreciate her donation because such items are valuable from the viewpoint of human development,” Somchai said.

He said the Fine Arts Department director-general, Arak Sunghitakul, would officially receive the antiques from Pahpirun, and they would be put on display later.

Vice Minister for Culture Veerasak Khowsurat said he was in talks with the Revenue Department about tax incentives for entrepreneurs, organisations and individuals who donated antique items or volunteered services in cultural promotion. “We believe their contributions to preserve our culture and arts should be recognised,” he said.

Pakamard Jaichalard

The Nation

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