Portrait of Mrs Choong Lye Hock née Lim Liew Saik

Collections
1567174
Title
Portrait of Mrs Choong Lye Hock née Lim Liew Saik
Year/Period
Ca. 1910s - 1920s
Region
Penang
Object Type
photographic prints, hand-coloured photographs
Material
wood (plant material), glass (material), paint (coating), colour (pigment), photographic paper
Technique
photographic printing techniques, photographic processes, hand-painted, reverse painting on glass (image-making), assembling (additive and joining process)
Dimension
Frame size: 122.2 x 79.8 x 4.8 cm,
Image size: 89.9 x 64.3 cm
Accession No.
2023-00570
Collection of
Peranakan Museum
Credit Line
Gift of Sam Choong

This is a portrait of Mrs Choong Lye Hock née Lim Liew Saik (d.1936). The sitter wears several kerosangs to secure the front of her baju panjang. A similar star-shaped kerosang (2023-00303) with a large centre diamond (instead of a cluster of diamonds as depicted in this portrait), belonged to the sitter's daughter-in-law, Mrs Choong Eng Hye née Ho Guat Im (1910 – 1993). This portrait is unusual as the ornamental borders are painted on the reverse of a glass panel. This technique was used in Renaissance Italy and spread to Asia by Jesuit missionaries.