Explore art of nyonya needlework in Peranakan Museum’s latest exhibition
Close to 200 works of art made from beads, gold threads and silk embroideries are being exhibited at the Peranakan Museum from 24 June 2016 to 26 March 2017. They form part of the museum’s latest exhibition, Nyonya Needlework: Embroidery and Beadwork in the Peranakan World.
Among the objects on display are a beaded wedding bed valence, believed to be made in Indonesia around 1848. It is one of the earliest “reliably dated embroidery”, said the museum in a media release.
While many of the exhibits are from the Singapore’s National Collection, a collection of Singapore’s artefacts and artworks by the National Heritage Board (NHB), visitors can also see objects from the Netherlands’ Rijksmuseum and its National Museum of World Cultures.
According to Peranakan Museum’s general manager John Teo, the exhibition was five years in the making, and is the “first in the world dedicated to a comprehensive showcase of beaded and embroidered Peranakan works of art”.
“It’s not just beaded slippers and wedding purses. Previously unexamined and lesser-known techniques of nyonya needlework are given a spotlight at this exhibition,” said Teo.
