Peranakan Aceh-style Silver Belt

Unusual Aceh-Style Silver Pierced Belt & Buckle

Peranakan Community, Java, Indonesia

Belts such as this example were worn by Peranakan (localised) Chinese on Java and Straits Chinese women folk (nonyas), particularly in Singapore but also the other Straits Settlements of Malacca and Penang, in the first few decades of the twentieth century. Made of solid silver, such belts were directly influenced by the marriage belts worn by indigenous brides in south Aceh in the northern tip of Sumatra, and also worn by localised Chinese in Aceh. Accordingly, they became known as ‘Aceh-style’ belts.

This example comprises a buckle and a matching belt of eleven panels. Each panel, including the buckle, is decorated with different types of birds that are indigenous to Indonesia amid flowers and foliage. Each is finely pierced with further enhancement from engraving.

Unusually, a ribbon beneath each bird scene is engraved with the local name of the bird, using old Dutch spellings of Indonesian words – names such as Selago Eting, Katoea, Poejoeh and Tjelepoek. The name beneath the birds of the buckle reads Norbajan, which might be the name of the belt’s owner.

The panels are linked to one another by silver loops.

Neither the buckle not the belt have assay or maker’s marks. There are no losses or repairs.

Chin, E., G

ilding the Phoenix: The Straits Chinese and their Jewellery, The National Museum Singapore, 1991.

Leigh, B.,

Hands of Time: The Crafts of Aceh, Penerbit Djambatan, 1989.

private collection