This is part of a group of 10 miniature ceramic objects, including a teapot with loop handle, a decoction pot, a wok, a bucket, a container lid, two stoves and other vessels, which were recovered from the exhumed grave of Mr Gan Boon Puay 顏文培 in Bukit Brown Cemetery. He passed away in 1938 and his ancestral hometown was in Yongchun 永春, Fujian province. The practice of burying everyday objects with the deceased originated in ancient China and continued to be observed by overseas Chinese communities. These objects were intended to satisfy the needs of the deceased and/or provide them with a comfortable afterlife. Located in the central part of Singapore, Bukit Brown Cemetery was officially opened on 1 January 1922 by the British colonial government as a public cemetery for non-Christian Chinese. It came to house an estimated 100,000 graves before it was officially closed to burials in 1973.
