Image size: 48 x 33 cm
This hand-tinted portrait of a Chinese gentleman in Western style suit reflects the taste for Western fashions especially among the Peranakan Chinese in the Straits Settlements from the late 19th century. The elaborate oval frame, carved in wood with floral motifs also reflects colonial influence in this time. . It is one of a pair with another portrait of a lady, possibly his wife.This photo is part of a large group of framed photographs which provides important visual documentation of the fashion, studio photography and lifestyle of Peranakans of the Straits Settlements and Indonesia in the late 19th to mid 20th centuries. Studio photography possibly reached Singapore and the region in the mid 1800s, and Peranakans were among the earliest clients.
