This pair of ceremonial footstools is made of gilded wood and features beadwork sewn onto a velvet base. The velvet is embroided with auspicious wedding motifs using glass beads. Phoenix, peonies, butterflies, animal-plants and designs of floral motifs are used to decorate the footstools. Footstools, also known as bangku kaki kahwen, are commissioned items and for the bride and bridegroom to rest their feet while seated for wedding ceremonies. This was sometimes attributed to the Malay raja sehari custom, where the bride and bridegroom are treated like royalty on their wedding day.Furniture used by Peranakans showed both Chinese and European influences and trends. In brown-and-gold style gilded teakwood furniture in particular, European forms of furniture were decorated with Chinese iconography. Furniture in this style was popular among Peranakans beginning from the late 19th century, and were usually made by Chinese craftsmen in Southeast Asia.
