Wedding Furniture
Newlyweds were commonly presented with
wedding gifts. Objects given to the bride, her trousseau, or jia zhuang in Chinese, were a way of distributing some family wealth to daughters within a society where family assets and heirlooms were usually inherited by sons. The trousseau would include an assortment of items such as jewellery, porcelain dinner services, embroideries, and kitchenware, as well as furniture for the new household. The size of the trousseau varied across income levels.
Wedding furniture would typically sideboards, cupboards, mirrors, washstands, chairs, or tables made from the types of wood favoured by Peranakan: blackwood, namwood, and teakwood.
69