Panel

Title

Panel

Year/Period

Early 20th century

Region

Singapore

Object Type

textiles (visual works), ceremonial furniture and furnishings

Material

glass (material), cotton (textile)

Technique

stitching (generic process), embroidering, sewing (needleworking technique)

Dimension

Object size: 7.7 x 67.1 cm

Accession No.

2024-00026

Collection of

Peranakan Museum

The panel decorated a wooden drum used during Buddhist ceremonies. Buddhist deities were depicted with halos around their heads in various scenes that extend across the length of the panel. They were worked in glass seed beads in petit-point stitch. Also known as tent stitch or half-cross stitch, this technique involved sewing each bead diagonally over intersections of the needlepoint canvas’s warp and weft threads. The beads were produced in Europe, possibly Venice, Lyons or Bohemia. The panel was given to Alice Choo (1926-2019) by a Hakka nun from a Thai temple on Race Course Road, Singapore in the 1950s.