The collection
The Straits Chinese Collection consists of over 2000 antiques and objects which can be divided into the following categories: furniture and wood carvings, porcelain, photographs, documents, books, costumes and textiles, paintings, lacquerware, kitchen utensils, electrical appliances and fixtures.
A large proportion of the furniture and photographs that were original to the Wee family’s collection have survived intact to this day and are presented within the house. The collection is also complemented by donations from other individuals and families.
As a collection that documents the material history of the Peranakan Chinese around the turn of the 20th century, it promotes the study of migration, cultural encounters and hybridity within the setting of urban and social change in Singapore. Recent additions to the collection include photographic portraits and paintings of the period featuring Chinese subjects, which have been featured in two exhibitions – Dressing the Baba: Recent Donations of Portraits and Inherited and Salvaged: Family Portraits from the Straits Chinese Collection.