Our catalogue > Straits Chinese or Baba-Nonya Items
The Straits Chinese, also known as the nonyas (for the females) and the babas (the men), as well as the Peranakan Chinese of Indonesia, are the localised Chinese who have been in Southeast Asia for many generations and whose cultures became a blend of Chinese and Malay & Javanese characteristics. They differ to the more newly arrived Chinese (referred to as the sinkeh or totoks) because of this acculturation.
The objects here were made by, or for, members of the localised Chinese communities of Southeast Asia.
All the items have been sourced from within the UK, often from old colonial-era collections, and all items are available for sale right now.
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Straits Chinese Beaded Wedding Slippers
Straits or Peranakan Chinese, Straits Settlements, probably Malacca, Malaysia/Singapore circa 1880
length: 25cm, width: approximately 8cm, combined weight: 108g
Provenance
UK art market
Unusual Malaysian Straits Silver Presentation Scroll Holder
Malacca, Straits Settlements, Malaya (now Malaysia) early 20th century
length: 39cm, diameter: 7.2cm, combined weight: 469g
Provenance
UK art market
Straits Chinese Groom’s Double-Sided, Finely Embroidered Blue Wedding Sash
Straits Chinese, Straits Settlements (Singapore, Penang, Malacca) late 19th or early 20th century
length: 197cm, width: 6.5cm
Provenance
Acquired by a colonial administrator in the early 20th century, and has been in England since.
Straits Chinese Red & Gold Floor Candle Stand
Straits Chinese or Peranakan people, Straits Settlements, Malaysia & Singapore 19th century
height: 111cm
Provenance
UK art market
Straits Chinese Red & Gold Floor Candle Stand
Straits Chinese or Peranakan people, Straits Settlements, Malaysia & Singapore 19th century
height (including spike): 114.5cm
Provenance
UK art market
Straits Chinese ‘Brown & Gold’ Ancestral Shrine Cabinet
Straits Chinese community, Straits Settlements (Malacca, Penang, Singapore) 19th century
height: 81cm, width: 70cm, depth: 47cm
Provenance
UK art market
Peranakan or Straits Chinese Altar Front Cloth (Tok Wi)
Straits Chinese or Peranakan, possibly produced in Java, Indonesia circa 1900
height: 97cm, width: 89cm
Provenance
Private collection, UK; originally acquired in Singapore.
Peranakan or Straits Chinese Altar Front Cloth (Tok Wi)
Private collection, UK; originally acquired in Singapore. early 20th century
height: 92cm, width: 104cm
Provenance
Private collection, UK; originally acquired in Singapore.
Peranakan or Straits Chinese Altar Front Cloth (Tok Wi)
Straits Chinese or Peranakan, possibly commissioned from China early to mid-20th century
height: 93cm, width: 95.5cm
Provenance
Private collection, UK; originally acquired in Singapore.
Finely Embroidered Straits Chinese Silk Wedding Valance
Straits Chinese, Straits Settlements (Singapore, Penang, Malacca) circa 1900
wdith: 175cm, length (including tassel hangings): 103cm
Provenance
Acquired by a former colonial British Resident Advisor to Kelantan in the early 20th century, and has been in England since.
Glass Beaded Wedding Slippers (Kasut Manek)
Straits Chinese Community, Singapore, Malacca or Penang circa 1920
length: 25cm
Provenance
UK art market
Embroidered Chinese Wall Hanging with Shou (寿) & other Daoist Deities
China, exported to the Straits Settlements 19th century
dimensions of backing material: 120cm x 84cm
Provenance
collected by Alwyn Sidney Haynes (1878-1963), and thence by descent. Haynes was a colonial administrator in Malaya and the Straits Settlements between 1901 and 1934. He held many posts including Acting British Resident, Pahang (1924); British Resident, Perak (1925); British Advisor, Kedah (1925); British Advisor, Kelantan (1930); and Acting Colonial Administrator, Straits Settlements (1933), after which he retired and returned to England, and lived near Stratford-upon-Avon, and then in Leamington Spa. Haynes loaned some of the items he collected in Malaya to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford in 1939. He was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1950.
Inscribed Peranakan Chinese Silver Ritual Ewer
Peranakan Chinese Community, Java, Indonesia circa 1920
height: 12cm, weight: 151g
Provenance
private collection, London, UK.
Straits Chinese Lacquered & Gilded Ancestral Shrine Cabinet
Southern China for the Straits Chinese Market circa 1900
height: 43.5cm, width: 34.5cm, thickness: 15cm
Provenance
UK art market
Carved & Polychrome Image of Chu-sheng Niang-niang (the Goddess who Registers Births), Fuzhou Chinese, early 20th century
Hokkien, Teochiu & Fuzhou Chinese Communities in Southeast Asia & China early 20th century
height: 27cm, width: 14cm
Provenance
Private Collection, Keith Stevens, UK.
Kendi with Green-Glazed Chinese Earthenware & Engraved Brass Mounts
Java, Indonesia 19th century
height: 21cm, width 24cm
Provenance
private collection, UK.