Incense stick holder

This is a heavy wooden incense stick holder with a dragon carved wrapped around the body of it. The dragon is gilded and the holder is also decorated with a Chinese key fret pattern band running around it.This item is donated by the family of prominent Peranakan, Ong Sam Leong (b. 1857, Singapore – d. 7 February 1918, Singapore). It comes from his ancestral home of Bukit Rose, formerly at 259 Bukit Timah Road. Ong was a well-known successful businessman who made is money in the mining of phosphate on Christmas island, which was historically a territory of colonial Singapore.