Peranakan Museum - Singapore 16-01-2015

Outram Park MRT on the way to Boon Lay MRT – safety at work.

The Peranakan Museum, once the Tao Nan School from 1912 to 1982.

Altar cloth-Java, mid 20th century. Confronting phoenixes in the upper panel surround a floral design normally used as a typical sarong motif.

 

Skirtcloth – Java, Yogyakarta – 1935 Drawn batik on cotton.
The skirtcloth features winged naga, shadow puppets (wayang kulit in Bahasa Indonesia) and circular medallions patterned with a popular batik lozenge motif called parang rusak (meaning ‘broken machete’) The background desigh is known as fish-scale (geringsing)
It has to be my favourite piece in this exhibition.

Kebaya – Java early 20th century – white cotton.
This fine lace kebaya is decorated with a pair of long dragons.

Altar cloth – five Quilins – Java, mid 20th century – Drawn batik on cotton.
Qilins are mythical creatures – a combination of several different animals, e.g. Lions,horses,dragons,and fish. Here the bodies are decorated with dots in a rosette shape. These dots are traditional pattern fillers (called isen) on Javanese batiks.

Cloth – Pair of Qilin – Java, mid 20th century – Drawn batik on cotton.

This cloth is an unusual single panel format and shows two qilins with a vase of flowers centre piece. the blue background is decorated in an overall pattern like many Javanese batik sarongs.
The bottom panel, a pattern of multicoloured lines is a common feature on batik baby carriers.

An embroidered Altar cloth one of a pair imported from China – mid 20th century .

  

 Porcelain Vase – China, late 19th or early 20th century.

 Altar cloth – Java, mid 20th century – blue on white were customary funeral colours.

Altar Cloth – Dragons and Phoenixes - Java, mid 20th century – The creatures were often used as symbols of a bridal couple which suggests the cloth was used for a wedding.