'Made in China'? A Case Study of Nonya Beadwork

Abstract

South-east Asian embroidery often drew on foreign designs introduced through migration, trade and colonization. It is therefore not always easy to identify the cultural attribution of examples of such needlework. This article reviews the cultural ascription for a collection of early twentieth-century beadwork, initially thought to be Chinese but later reconsidered as being of the acculturated Chinese (Peranakan) communities in the Indonesian archipelago and the Malay peninsula. Using this material, it highlights a largely neglected possible source of beadwork manufacture for the Peranakans - workshops or producers in mainland China - and questions the received notions that emphasize the role of beadwork as a signifier of a Peranakan woman's training and marriageability. Show more