Nyonya needlework on show at Singapore’s Peranakan Museum

Nyonya needlework in footwear is commonly associated with slippers, but wealthy Nonyas in Java also wore velvet boots with gold embroidery for weddings and on formal occasions. Photos: Peranakan Museum Singapore

Nyonya needlework is a distinctive form of Peranakan Chinese art, but the embroidery and beadwork of Straits-born Chinese women tell stories beyond those of their own culture.

The new exhibition, Nyonya Needlework, at the Peranakan Museum in Singapore (peranakanmuseum.org.sg) aims to show this. It features close to 200 items of embroidery and beadwork from Singapore’s national collection – the largest collection of Nyonya needlework in public hands – as well as some loans from the Rijksmuseum and the National Museum of World Cultures, both in the Netherlands.