Silver Peranakan buckle, Tangerang, Batavia

Beautiful silver Peranakan buckle.

The Peranakan are descendants of Chinese colonists in Maritime Southeast Asia who, mixed with local cultural elements, formed their own unique culture.

In West Java, wealthy Peranakan women often wore a specific type of belt buckle, known as a pending. These pendings came in two main varieties: the smooth pending polos and the pending poohwa, which were decorated with small figures and plants soldered onto them.

These pendings were prized possessions and kept as family heirlooms. When a family fell into poverty, the pending was one of the last things the wife sold.

This buckle is formed from a thin silver plate. It is then decorated with bands of floral motifs in relief, applied in repoussé, and then chiseled and punched on the front for further detail. Inside, a wire is bent into two loops.

This specific type of belt buckle was produced in Tangerang, west of Batavia, present-day Jakarta.

In good condition.

The buckle is not hallmarked. Silver from Indonesia often has a lower silver alloy.

A similar buckle is in the collection of the Wereldmuseum. Inventory number: TM-2160-244.

Weight: 31.8 grams. Dimensions: 7 x 10 cm.