Image size: 19 x 12.8 cm
This photograph features a nyonya in baju panjang and elaborate jewellery at Kee Chun Studio, Penang. It is one of pair, the other probably featured her husband. Up to the early 20th century, photography was a luxury that only the upper and middle classes could afford, and were regarded as opportunities to celebrate one’s status. This explains why many Peranakan ladies chose to depict themselves in their best jewellery. Studio portraits were usually full-length until the late 19th century, when half-length and close-up shots became popular. 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.
