This framed photograph shows a wedding procession. Along the bottom is the inscription ‘The Marriage of Mr. Teoh Sim Cheng to Miss Yeo Seok Buay held on 1st day of May 1938, corresponding to 2nd day of 4th Chinese Moon, 27th year of the Republic of China.’ The studio mark ‘Yongheng Studio Malacca’ is also inscribed. Studios were already established across the Strait Settlements and the Dutch East Indies by the 1840s and became increasingly prevalent in the 1850s. During the 1920s, Chinese-owned studios dominated the studio photography trade in Southeast Asia. Ranging from formal studio portraits to albums of snapshots of everyday life and stately ancestral portraits, this large group of photographs reveals the many forms of photography available and gives insight into the various aspects of the lives of Peranakans.
