National Treasure – Singapore Stone (c. 14th century)

Although there are only a few historical sources that address Singapore’s pre-colonial past, archaeology has helped to fill some of the gaps. Since 1984, archaeologists in Singapore have uncovered traces of pre-colonial Singapura or Temasek in the Singapore River and Fort Canning areas.

National Treasure¹

The Singapore Stone

Inscribed sandstone | 10th-14th centuries | Singapore River mouth | National Museum of Singapore collection

When the British arrived in Singapore in 1819, they found relics dating back to the 14th century. One of these was a sandstone boulder at the mouth of the Singapore River. It was split into two nearly equal parts, which faced each other at an angle of about forty degrees. According to the Sejarah Melayu, the boulder had been hurled from nearby Fort Canning Hill by a strongman known as Badang².

Just one fragment, the other fragments were lost

In 1843, the British blew up the boulder to build military quarters. All that remains in Singapore is the fragment on display here, which is known as the Singapore Stone. Two other fragments were sent to the Calcutta Museum in 1848, but their exact whereabouts are unknown.

The Stone has been dated from the 10th to 14th centuries. The inscription is written in Kawi script and contains some Sanskrit words³, but it has never been fully deciphered.

“And it was known as Singapura” (1299-1818)

Stoneware sherds and stoneware, found on north bank of the Singapore River, c. 14th century

Where does Singapore’s history begin? Geology tells us that the oldest rock formations on Singapore date from the Paleozoic Era. From prehistoric tools found in western Singapore and Pulau Ubin, there may have been a settlement here several thousand years ago.

Sejarah Melayu (The Malay Annals)

Paper | 19th century | National Museum of Singapore collection

The earliest written records to mention Singapore describe it as a thriving port in the 14th century. It was known by different names then: Chinese trader Wang Dayuan called it Danmaxi (Temasik or Temasek), while in the Sejarah Melayu (The Malay Annals)⁴, it was called Singapura.

Blue & White Chunping Porcelain Vase⁵

Porcelain | Late Yuan dynasty (14th century) | Victoria Concert Hall site beneath Old Parliament Lane | National Museum of Singapore collection

1. Blue & White Chunping Porcelain Vase, Late Yuan dynasty (14th century)
3. Blue & white porcelain, Mid-Ming dynasty (15th-16th century)

From archaeological finds, we know that Singapura was a place where Chinese porcelain wares and stoneware were traded, along with locally-made pottery or natural products such as hornbill casques and laka wood. The settlement was probably ruled by an elite class who lived on what is now Fort Canning Hill, and Singapura, though small, was connected by trade and politics to not only the Malay Archipelago, but also Siam (Thailand), China and India.

Marco Polo ware

Porcelain | 14th century | Fort Canning Hill (Bukit Larangan) | Jarlet and spout on loan from National Parks Board

Spouted vessels, often called kendi⁶, were used in 14th-century Singapore to store water for drinking at home and for sprinkling holy water in religious rituals. Kendi is a Malay word derived from the Sanskrit word kundika.⁷

The Sejarah Melayu and other histories say that Singapura was attacked by foreign invaders in the late 14th century. After that, it was inhabited primarily by the Orang Laut (“sea people” in Malay). They knew the regional waters well and, at different times, were allied with the Melaka or Johor sultanate.

Qingbai Porcelain Figurines of Buddhist Devotees

Porcelain | Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) | Empress Place site | National Museum of Singapore collection

This settlement flourished for about a hundred years between the 14th and 15th centuries. This was followed by a hiatus in the 16th century, before a brief revival in the 17th century.

History of Singapore

Singapore’s history is a journey from ancient settlement to modern metropolis. Initially known as Temasek, it was a 14th-century trading post, later falling under the influence of various empires. Sir Stamford Raffles established a British trading post in 1819, transforming the island into a thriving port. Post-World War II, Singapore gained self-governance and eventually independence, first as part of Malaysia and then as a sovereign nation in 1965.

The Singapore Treasures series focuses on the artefacts, relics and key monuments and moments that shaped this young nation. It is divided into four main parts.

Pre-colonial before 1819
British Colonial Rule (1819-1942), Japanese Occupation (1942-1945) and Post-War (1945-1955)
Self government (1955-1963) and merger with Malaysia (1963-1965)
Independence since 1965

The full list of national treasures is as follows: (1) The Singapore Stone (2)
a 1904 portrait of Sir Frank Athelstane Swettenham, the first Resident General
of the Federated Malay States, by John Singer Sargent; (3) the last will and
testament of Munshi Abdullah, the father of modern Malay literature; (4)
the mace of the City of Singapore (1953) that was presented by Chinese
philanthropist Loke Wan Tho in conjunction with King George VI granting
Singapore a Royal Charter in 1951, raising its status to a city; (5) an 1844
daguerreotype of the view from Fort Canning Hill by French customs service
officer Alphonse-Eugene Jules, one of the earliest photographic images of
Singapore; (6) fourteenth-century gold armlets and rings in East Javanese
style, found at Fort Canning Hill in 1928; (7) a 1939 portrait of Sir Shenton
Thomas, the last Governor of the Straits Settlements, by painter Xu Beihong;
(8) a collection of 477 natural history drawings of flora and fauna in Melaka
commissioned by Resident of Singapore William Farquhar in the 19th century;
(9) a wooden hearse used for the funeral of Chinese philanthropist
Tan Jiak Kim in 1917; (10) an early twentieth-century embroidered Chinese
coffin cover, one of the largest of its kind in existence in Singapore; and (11)
a glove puppet stage belonging to the Fujian puppet troupe, Xin Sai Le, which
came to Singapore in the 1930s. See: Wei Chean Lim, “Singapore’s Treasures”
in The Straits Times (31 January 2006).
The Singapore Stone, now displayed at the National Museum of Singapore, was designated by the museum as one of 11 National Treasures of Singapore in January 2006, and by the National Heritage Board as one of the top 12 artefacts held in the collections of its museums. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Treasures_of_Singapore ↩︎
The Singapore Stone may be linked to the legendary story of the 14th-century strongman Badang, who is said to have thrown a massive stone to the mouth of the Singapore River. On Badang’s death, the Rajah sent two stone pillars to be raised over his grave “at the point of the straits of Singapura“, which is one of the earliest mention of Singapura, or “Lion City”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_Stone ↩︎
Detail from a drawing of three fragments from a sandstone block that once stood at the Singapore River mouth, showing the fragment called the Singapore Stone which is now in the National Museum of Singapore. Possibly J.W. Laidlay. – J.W. Laidlay, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. 17 no. 2 (1848), plate 3 opposite p. 68. From http://www.spi.com.sg/haunted/stones/sg_stone/Untitled-7.jpg. ↩︎
The Sejarah Melayu is a chronicle of the Malay courts of Singapore and Melaka from the 14th to 16th centuries. It remains a fundamental text of Malay history today. The oldest known version was compiled in 1612 by Tun Sri Lanang, a court official at the capital of the Johor sultanate.
Most existing manuscripts of the Sejarah Melayu date from the 19th century. This is the original manuscript in Jawi from which the 1896 edition in the collection of Reverend Dr W. S. Shellabear was printed. Shellabear’s romanised transliteration of the Sejarah Melayu is still available in print today. [Museum Information Card, Aug 2025] ↩︎
This is an extremely rare vase depicting grape and vine motifs. It was produced at Jingdezhen, the centre of Chinese porcelain-making, in Jiangxi province, China. [Museum Information Card, Aug 2025] ↩︎
In Singapore, kendi may have been made with clay from Bras Basah. In the 19th century, this area was reported to yield high-quality material for local pottery. Other ritual objects made in Singapore included incense burners. [Museum Information Card, Aug 2025] ↩︎
This trumpet-necked vase belongs to a type of porcelain called Marco Polo ware, because the explorer was said to have brought one from China back to Italy in 1292. This type of vase was rather common in Singapura and its surrounding areas at the time. [Museum Information Card, Aug 2025] ↩︎

National Treasure – Singapore Stone (c. 14th century)

The Singapore Stone