Child's blue vest with embroidery and gold couching

Title
Child's blue vest with embroidery and gold couching
Year/Period
c. 1909
Region
Malacca, Malaysia
Material
Silk
Technique
Couching and embroidery
Dimension
Object size: 38.5 x 37.5 cm
Accession No.
2008-00206
Credit Line
Gift of Mdm. Chan Poh Choo
NLB Type
Costume

This child’s blue vest with embroidery and gold couching was worn by donor Mdm. Chan Poh Choo’s father when he was a baby.Mdm. Chan is the granddaughter of Chinese businessman and philanthropist Tan Kah Kee. She is half-Peranakan as her father was a Peranakan from Malacca and her mother was Tan Kah Kee’s daughter. She was born in Malacca in 1930. During the Second World War, she escaped to Burma and China with her family. She studied chemistry at the Hong Kong University in the 1950s. After graduation, she taught at Fairfield Methodist’s School and Singapore Chinese Girls’ School before retiring in the early 1980s.