This rare gilded, namwood bench would have been given to the bride by her family upon marriage. Such chairs were specially commissioned for use in wealthy Peranakan homes. The use of gilded namwood furniture was especially popular with Hokkien Baba families of Malacca, Singapore, Riau and Palembang during the 19th century. Such benches were used by Peranakan families for entertaining relative and important guests in the family room or inner halls of the traditional Peranakan terraced house.Items such as these were stored away in readiness for the wedding. It was important they should be new, to symbolise a new beginning and the opening of a new house for the bride.
