Title
Fifteen floor tiles
Year/Period
12 March 1917
Region
Europe or Japan
Object Type
Material
Technique
Dimension
Object size: 23 x 23 cm,
Object size: Refer to parts
Object size: Refer to parts
Accession No.
2021-00294
Collection of
Credit Line
Gift of the family of T.W. Ong
These tiles featuring a patchwork quilt pattern were used to decorate the floor of Nyonya Oon Chim Neo’s 溫深娘 (1886–1917) large tomb at Bukit Brown Cemetery in Singapore. Oon graduated from Chinese Girl's School, where she won many awards. She married Ong Boon Tat in 1908, and had one son, Ong Tiang Wee, who became a prominent lawyer. The Ong clan cemetery was incorporated into Bukit Brown when it opened in 1922. Mass produced decorative tiles like these were particularly favoured by the wealthy in the Straits Settlements (Singapore, Malacca, Penang) in the late 19th and early 20th century. Embellishment of home facades, walkways, and tombs using ceramic tiles became a way of displaying beauty and affluence.
