Pair of Straits Chinese Key Holders. Ca. 1900

Here is something you definitely do not see every day.

What we have here is a pair of Straits Chinese or Peranakan copper keyholders, from about 1890-1910ish. These were made by Straits Chinese 'baba' silversmiths or goldsmiths, and were intended for the use of both men and women (babas and nyonyas). Keys were clipped to the ring at the end of the holder, and the long hook at the back was slipped into the owner's belt where it would be secure until the keys were needed.

These things fell out of fashion by the 1920s and 30s, by which time most Straits Chinese (men, anyway) were wearing more European-style clothes, but back when more traditional garb was common, holders like these were as common as the keyrings we use today.



These days, Peranakan keyholders like these are getting increasingly rare, mostly because people don't know what they are or how they work. I'm so excited that I have a pair to add to my collection now

 

Gorgeous, I love the Peranakan style. Here is my latest acquisition, a 1930's silver powder compact.

 

Here's a photograph of the keyholders together with my grandmother's nyonya belt, to give an idea of how these things were worn...



From what research I've conducted on what little information there is (and there is VERY little information!), the belt and the key-hooks both date from around 1890-1910.

 

Lovely, I had already noticed the buckle in your avatar picture. Am I right in thinking the central part is based on the lion and the unicorn?
I read somewhere that the Peranakan nyonya's also wore tiny European style mesh purses on the key-hooks, so they could be regarded as general chatelaines.
Your right, there is very little information. Throughout Southeast Asian history you see a love-hate relationship with people of Chinese descent. I like your blog, maybe your information will help.
Could I pick your brain on these bracelets? I realise this is the metalware forum, but since this is a Peranakan thread... The seller said they were Chinese, I think they could be Peranakan or even Javanese/Madurese.

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Hi AJ.

Yes, silver chainmail purses were popular with the nyonya during the early 1900s. I have seen numerous examples in antiques shops, in museums and online.

The Peranakan were a race apart in many ways. They were not Malay. They were not Indonesian. They were not Singaporean. And yet, they lived in Malaya, Singapore and the Dutch East Indies.

They were not strictly-speaking, Chinese, and yet they followed MANY Chinese customs and spoke many chinese dialects.

They considered themselves to be above the workaday malay, Indo, or Sinkheh.

The bracelets or bangles do look of Peranakan style. The repousse work is reminiscent of similar jewelry which I've seen attributed to baba silversmiths.

One way to I.D. peranakan ANYTHING is to look at how detailed the decorations and workmanship is. It's my observation and experience that Peranakan artefacts are HIGHLY (some might say even excessively) decorated. They never did things by halves, and often overdid things, adding layer after layer of embellishment and beautification. It will also have distinct Chinese styles and flavours added to it, because of their ancient links back to China.

 

Hi Shahan,

Thanks for the info, it was indeed the detailed decoration that made me think. Is Peranakan art influenced by the vivid Cantonese style?

I occasionally come across Peranakan culture through research for my collection (of any jewellery, hence the name).
And I am currently writing a book on cultural and spiritual backgrounds of Javanese and Madurese keris (ritual/status dagger). Of course there is some Chinese/Peranakan influence there as well, so I keep running into these Orang Peranakan.
By the way, I am a tiny bit Peranakan as well, a very distant ancestor was a Chinese captain at Tuban, North Java, called Gan Eng Cu. His wife was Javanese, their daughter married someone who was a Vietnamese/Persian-Arab-Samarkand mix, and the family line ended up in The Netherlands, by way of Madura.
But with Gan Eng Cu we're talking ca. 1400, and my family is so confusingly multi-ethnic, there is no noticible Peranakan influence.

Where did your Peranakan ancestors call home?

 

I'm a bit more Peranakan than you are!!

My paternal grandmother was from an ENTIRELY Peranakan family. They lived in Muar, in Malaya, Indonesia (although nobody knows where) and Singapore.

 

Well, that's a blow!
But seriously, your grandmother's ancestors covered just about the entire Peranakan area. Shipping? Trade? Or finding suitable partners...
I am fascinated by old trading networks like the Silk Road and the Spice Route, less famous ones as well. It is the interconnectedness (is this a word?) and cultural exchange that enriches the mind.

 

I just love them because of how different they were. How interesting and unique. How their lives were so different from everyone else's in the lands where they lived. They were nominally Chinese, and yet they had things in their culture which were completely unknown in China. It's this strange mixy-mixy weird stuff that makes them so interesting to me.

 

I agree, that is very interesting, and appealling. And certainly worthy of more research (maybe by you?).

I guess the attraction is recognizable to me, coming from a family that is very multi-ethnic. We are always drawn towards other cultural mixes. But contrary to the Peranakan, we are not part of a specific mix-culture, because every generation introduces new ethnicities to the mix.
For many generations we have had a sort extended family culture, different from the surrounding cultures, wherever we were. Not just a weird family (that too), but certain unwritten laws regarding etiquette and behaviour that are more complicated and different.

 

I don't see how keys were attached. Might these be brass and not copper? Is the decorated part solid as in a casting? Maybe a side view of one would answer some questions. Were these two used or not, do you think? I've never seen any of these, thus the questions.

 

As explained above, the key's attached to the ring and the hook then goes over your belt.

http://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/3266.html

 

The top appears to be repousse "soldered onto sheet metal,the back plate was overheated during soldering.Photo is too blurry to see if "O" ring is soldered.

 

I guess I was wondering how the owners of these rings would add and remove keys when needed, there doesn't seem to be any way to do that on yours. Seems all the linked ones are silver, some gilded over the silver. Do museums have brass ones like yours? In one of the links the center ring has several keys which are removable due to the spring-closure type of ring, but interestingly all of the keys are functionally identical on the "business end." I have to wonder why anyone would carry several identical keys, doesn't that seem a bit odd to you? Are those keys silver? Not sure silver works very well for keys. Do you think yours were ever used? If so how were keys added and removed? Could yours be the "later ones" mentioned in a link?

 

I've been to two or three Peranakan museums in my time (there aren't that many, that's how rare this stuff is), and none of them had keyholders like this.

Keys were clipped onto a separate ring which was then threaded onto the main ring, or the main ring was pulled open (with like, pliers or something) and the keys were fitted on and then the ring closed around them again. The long clip at the back slides over your belt.

They're extremely light. I think it's more likely that they're gilt tin or nickel. They're almost like tin-foil.

 

Yes it is remarkable indeed that as rare as these are, you found a pair in new condition, with no appearance of age or wear. You should stay in touch with that source, they just may be able to find more of them.

 

Nobody makes these anymore, that much I can assure you. And they aren't new, they just probably were never worn. They were only made for the oldschool Peranakan society and culture - and that hasn't existed since WWII.

 

Thanks for the reassurance, and you know, that makes them even more rare as one of the very few collectible objects that has somehow magically avoided reproduction, or in fact creation as a fantasy item. If you can find an old photo of someone from that culture wearing these, I'd be most interested.

 

I can try, but that's not easy. I can easily find people wearing the belts, and even the brooches, but not these. I have photographs of my grandmother's siblings, and my great-grandmother and stuff, all wearing the belts and brooches, but the keyholders? You couldn't find a period photo of those if you tried. For one thing - they would've been covered up by the clothing-styles of the day. So even if they were wearing them, you'd never know.