Straits Chinese Silver Betel Set by Da Xing & Lacquered Box

This complete silver betel set and lacquered wooden box has been made by and for the Straits Chinese or baba-nonya or peranakan Chinese community of Singapore, Malacca and Penang. The Straits Chinese were localised and so adopted many Malay customs such as chewing betel or areca, which was a mild social stimulant. Accordingly, many Malay terms were used to identify the set and its components.

It comprises two cimbal or covered betel boxes, plus and open pedestal vase to hold the uncut areca nut, a cylindrical covered box to hold slaked lime, and a pair of horse-shaped iron areca nut shears with silver covered handles. Each is engraved with stylised torch ginger or bunga kantan motifs. Each is also stamped to the base with the mark for ‘Wen Yin’ or ‘Pure Silver’ and ‘Da Xing’. This mark appears on better examples of Straits Chinese silver and is thought to have been a maker in Singapore in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, it is also a mark that has appeared on Sumatran and Thai silver items so either was a maker or a retailer with various outlets in Southeast Asia, or was a name used by several local Chinese makers or retailers.

The lime box has a plain silver insert tray inside. Its cover, like the two other covers of the covered boxes, have small central applied plaques each chased with a single peony bloom and originally these were gilded.

The handles of the areca shears (kacip) have been repoussed with a scale-like motif perhaps inspired by the skin of the local salak fruit.

The box in which the set is stored is known as a tepak sirih. It is of rectangular form, sits on low feet, and has undulating sides. It has been lacquered and decorated with flower motifs in black and red-brown hues and most likely was produced in the Palembang area of southern Sumatra, where an old and very localised Chinese community lived and produced such lacquerware. Such lacquerware was then exported to the Straits Settlements. The box also has a long, thin drawer with a ring-pull in the base. This was for storing the betel leaves which were wide and flat and used to wrap the components of the betel quid which generally included slaked lime (usually from powdered seashells and coral), slices of areca nut and gambir. The lime was needed to cause a chemical reaction with the areca nut which released the stimulant for the chewer.

The set here is in excellent condition. The box is intact with some minor flaking to the lacquer.