The Peranakan, as they became to be known as, settled mostly in some parts of Indonesia, Penang and Malacca in Malaysia (once British Malaya) and in Singapore.
This picture of my step great-grandmother below – also from the same era – shows more clearly the ibu (mother) and one of the two anak (child) kerosang. Named so because the main paisley shaped brooch is the biggest of the triple set. The kerosang in both photos are virtually identical which makes me think they were shared between the two women for their formal portraits. These were clearly the family’s best pieces.
Most old Peranakan intan are thought to have came from the diamond mines in Southern Kalimantan (Borneo) in Indonesia, the only ones in the region.
Prong set intan were much more prevalent after the Second World War probably because the technique was less labor intensive. In recent years, genuine vintage Peranakan intan jewelry have become highly collectible and very, very pricey.
Delicate Victorian or Art Nouveau style of designs predominate but other designs also exist. It was really up to individual nonyas what they wanted to wear. They visited their favorite goldsmiths whenever they had the means and urge to add to their jewelry collections.
Designs were collaborations. I remember accompanying my mother on such occasions where the goldsmith would sketch design ideas based on what she wanted. She would have acquired a gemstone directly or indirectly from a local gem trader – my father sometimes bought her gemstones as gifts.
Jewelry was important to the nonyas. Women back then were uneducated. They did not work outside the home or own property. But Peranakan culture was such that girls and women were often gifted precious jewelry as much as their families could afford. These were not just their best accessories but tangible possessions they could truly call their very own. The nonyas would proudly pass their jewelry collection down to the next generation. Precious gold and gemstone jewelry was also their security to be used in time of great need.
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| My maternal grandparents’ wedding photo, 1930 |
Some pre- Second World War Peranakan jewelry have survived and are now in museums and private collections. But as for my family’s jewelry in those old photos? I asked my Ah Mah where they were and she replied, “All gone”. Save for one piece.
Like her contemporaries worldwide who lived through the 1918 pandemic and two World Wars, she endured years of privation, hardship, fear and sorrow especially during WWII, yet never complained or spoke much about her experiences. That stoic generation just did what they had to do, to survive, to raise their families without any help and without knowing when the war would end.
The local populations were thus left to fend for themselves. Many families like mine were in grave peril. Peranakan jewelry making probably ground to a halt during this time.
Many children also lost out on 4 years of schooling. Families kept adolescent girls and young women at home and out of sight as the risk of abduction to serve as “comfort” women for Japanese troops was real. Japanese soldiers were “billeted” to local kitchens for their food. Mum’s family house was the one they used for frying eggs. Ah Mah would hide the young women of the family in a bedroom whenever Japanese soldiers came to the house.
My paternal grandfather became the manager of a rubber plantation when the British owner fled to Singapore. He narrowly escaped being beheaded by an incensed Japanese officer over a misunderstanding about the price of the plantation chickens. As far as that Japanese commandant for the area knew, my paternal grandparents were childless. There were actually eight of them! My father and his mostly older brothers and sisters hid in two small huts deep in the jungle for four years.
He was just a boy of 10 when the war broke out. Dad never read us stories from books when my siblings and I were young but he told us stories of how they survived in the jungle where finding food was the main preoccupation. 9-year-old Me :”What did the iguana you caught taste like?” Dad :”Chicken.”
Too young to take part in his older brothers’ dangerous wild boar hunts involving pit traps and dogs, he still helped find food by fishing in crocodile infested rivers – the crocodiles nearly got him on a couple of occasions. My paternal grandparents lived in fear Japanese jungle patrols would stumble upon their children. They were close at least once, according to family lore.
There was just one pre-war family jewelry survivor – a very old, pitted, well-worn gold ring shown below. It is actually a man’s ring, a wedding gift from my grandmother’s parents to their new son-in-law. But my grandfather refused to wear any jewelry after their wedding, so my grandmother wore it instead.
The simple multi-prong ring features an unusually large intan with few facets, visible inclusions and poor clarity. Large intan – a diamond “skin”, hand cleaved from a raw nugget – were often flawed. Ah Mah saved this ring not because she couldn’t sell it but because it was a gift from her mother. When I was old enough, she gave it to me. This ring is beyond price.
The art of Peranakan jewelry making has not died. The craftsmen resumed their work after the war. There are still goldsmiths today who make Peranakan jewelry. It is a style which grows in popularity with every passing year.
One of the most famous owners of modern Peranakan jewelry is Queen Elizabeth II. The Bird of Paradise pendant/brooch was created with 18K gold and 61 round brilliant cut diamonds. It was a gift from Singapore to the Queen for her Diamond Jubilee in 2012.
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| Screen capture from video below |
References
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