NATIONAL COLLECTION X MUSEUM MARTKET SHOPPER

62 x 35 cm

SARI

India, 20th Century

Textile

Collection of Asian Civilisations Museum

2009-01600

The garo or gara is a sari decorated with Indo-Chinese Embroidery. It is strongly identified with women of the Parsi community. Parsis are followers of Zoroastrianism, one of the oldest religions in the world. They migrated to India from Central Asia between the 8th and 10th centuries. By the late 18th and 19th centuries, Parsis were instrumental in facilitating British trading interests in the China trade, trading opium, cotton, tea, and silk between China, India, and Southeast Asia.

A PEDLAR OF BATIK

Singapore/Malaysia

Late 19th-early 20th Century

Collection of the National Museum of Singapore

1991-00382

A Malay batik pedlar sells his wares to a prospecting customer. Hawking drinks, food, handicrafts, and various products was one of the many pavement occupations for common folk to earn a living in the early days.

SARONG

Pekalongan, Java

Late 19th-early 20th century

Textile

Collection of Asian Civilisations Museum

1997-04174

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Andy Ng

This sarong would have been worn by a Nyonya (Peranakan woman) under a kebaya. The decoration features large floral bouquets with butterflies and birds. Nyonya-style sarongs are known for their bright and colourful designs, in shades of orange, yellow, pink and mauve, made possibly by chemical dyes imported from Europe in the 19th Century.