The slab of ceramics was originally part of the grave of Ong Seah Say 陈声世 who died in 1941. It was one of several panels that was used to decorate the “arms” (the low walls that extended from both sides of the headstone) of the tomb. These tiles featuring pink roses were likely manufactured in Japan. Ong was a businessman who first made his wealth in the tin mining industry in Kuala Lumpur. He later started a textile trading business after arriving in Singapore in the 1920s. During his time in Singapore, he also served as the Chairman of Eng Hoon Huay Kuan 永春会馆 and on the Board of Directors of several schools. 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. Ong's grave was one of over 3,700 graves that were exhumed between 2013 and 2014 for the construction of a new road through the cemetery.
