07 janvier 2008

Un panier de mariage Nonya

History of Baba and Nyonya: Baba and Nyonya, the term used popularly for descendants of early Chinese immigrants to the Southeast Asian region, including both the British Straits Settlements of Singapore, Malacca and Penang, Malaysia who have partially adopted Malay customs in an effort to be assimilated into the local communities. Baba refer to the male descendants and Nyonya the female. Most of them are of Hokkien ancestry, although fair denominations of them are of the Teochew or Cantonese descent. Their language is a dialect of the Malay Language which contains many Hokkien words.

C'est un panier de mariage que j'ai trouvé chez un ami antiquaire, il venait lui même de le récuperer lors d'une succession d'une vieille famille de Penang.
I bought this wedding basket at a friend antic shop in Penang, Malaysia

Here is the lid, le couvercle du panier
Detail of the main character on the lid, the old man on his donkey is asking for direction at the shepard looking after his goat.
L'homme assis sur son âne est un homme riche, il voyage avec monture, il demande son chemin au berger qui garde sa chèvre qu'on peut distinguer à l'arrière plan.

Il est plus âgé et salue avec respect l'homme important.
Même le socle du panier est travaillé et orné, voyez comme le tressage est fin, presqu'une dentelle, celà témoigne du raffinement de la culture Peranakan.

I copied these clear explanation here

10 commentaires:

none a dit…

I wonder what items would be put into a wedding basket and what the symbolism on the lid means.

Jeannie a dit…

It's lovely - so much history

tweetey30 a dit…

Hammer is right. Wow they are beautiful baskets. They must have a reason for each symbol.

tweetey30 a dit…

Hammer is right. Wow they are beautiful baskets. They must have a reason for each symbol.

by Danie a dit…

Yes to all of you, I think they used to put some Nonyas delicacies in the wedding basket, and I never thought of the symbolism behind, but next month I will ask a few Chinese Malaysian friends well versed in Peranakan culture, some of them being of Nonya descent themselves.

Anonyme a dit…

Beautiful treasures to own. Enjoy :-)

alicesg a dit…

Hi, the baskets come in two or three tiers too and some are big and used in Chinese Weddings too. I remembered my grandmother put some oranges, dried longan, red dates, and other gifts during my uncle's wedding long time ago. A rooster and hen will be placed on the top tier of the basket accompanied with a pair of coconuts and sugar cane. The rooster and hen are meant to lead the way and the return gift of a rooster and hen from the bride's family will be put under the bridal bed back at the groom’s home. It was believed that the firstborn will be male if the rooster came out first. Nowadays some dont used the rooster and hens anymore. They used red packets (ang pows) to represent it.

alicesg a dit…

You can view some nonya food that I took at a nonya and baba restaurant. They are not spicy. Hope you like it. :)
http://yummyfoodphoto.blogspot.com/2007/12/nyonya-baba-food.html

The Zombieslayer a dit…

I absolutely love it when people spend that much detail on hand done stuff. It's not just the piece of art that everyone looks at, but the "doodles" around the edges. Ever since the Victorian era ended here in America, I've seen the details on architecture and other art forms as sparse and plain. That's a big complaint I've had.

Oswegan a dit…

It is very intricate.

~Oswegan