Malaysia · Jewelry / Metalwork
Kerongsang Peranakan
Kerongsang is the traditional three-piece brooch set worn by Nyonya women to pin the lapels of the baju kebaya blouse — a set comprising one large brooch (ibu — mother) and two smaller ones (anak — children). Made in gold or silver with fine filigree, enamel (champleve or cloisonné), and set with gemstones (diamonds, rubies, emeralds), the Kerongsang is among the most technically complex small-scale jewelry traditions in Southeast Asia. The Peranakan Kerongsang combines Chinese goldsmithing techniques (filigree, enamel) with Malay ornament vocabulary and Indian gem-setting practices — the same three-way cultural fusion as Perak silverwork (CRAFT-0234) but in a smaller, more jewel-like format. The three-piece set convention — ibu and anak — encodes kinship in the object form itself.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Not inscribed
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