Guests awed by Baba Nyonya jewellery

SOME 50 guests had a great afternoon discovering how the events of history shaped and fashioned the Straits Chinese Baba Nyonya jewellery and influenced its designs.
The sharing session held at the George Town World Heritage Incorpoated (GTWHI) at Lebuh Acheh in George Town on July 11 was narrated by museum director of the Penang Peranakan Mansion (Penang), Lillian Tong.
The talk, titled “The Straits Chinese Baba Nyonya Jewellery”, was part of the “Talking Books” session organised by GTWHI.
“Talking Books” is regularly held by GTWHI Resource Centre to introduce heritage related books and local talents to the public.
Tong authored “The Straits Chinese Gold Jewellery” published in 2013. She is currently working on two other books, one of which is “The Straits Chines Embroidery and Beadwork” due to be published at the end of the year.
During the one-hour sharing session, which was enhanced by a slide show, Tong took the guests down memory lane, showing pictures of various Peranakan jewellery like “cucuk sanggul hairpin”, various types of earrings like Anglo-Indian day and night earrings, phoenix tail and chandelier earrings.
She also highlighted the various coins (with Victorian & Chinese elements), rings, bracelets and belts, anklets and tiaras (Victorian & European) and Penang Nyonya love jades of the 1930’s.
Meanwhile, a guest, Wong Kooi Kam whose family in Kangar, Perlis, runs a jewellery business, also brought along some of the Baba and Nyonya jewellery items to share at the talk session.
Tong, who is also the director of the Sraits Chinese Jewellery Museum (Malacca), is in the forefront of highlighting the Straits Chinese history, heritage and culture.
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