Singaporean Antique Peranakan floral diamond bracelet

With its double hollow gold petals, this floral bracelet interspersed with 15 hand cleaved rose cut diamonds is definitely a charm of the era. We can see the distinctive craft of Peranakan jewelry in this elegant bracelet. The use of 18k- 22K gold and diamonds called intan: Peranakan style rose cut diamonds. This is one of the earliest diamond cuts, which were sliced or hand cleaved with few uneven facets.

Introduction of Peranakan jewelry:
Peranakans are descendants of marriages between Chinese and local Malaysians. Within the time, they developed a unique style: a mix between Chinese, Malay, Indian, and later on, European influences. The Peranakans have their own rich customs, cuisine, architecture, design, and of course, jewelry.
Peranakan jewelry is always famous for its nature motifs such as the phoenix, dragonfly, butterfly, flowers, and leaves. These pieces are symbolic of wealth and blessings that were passed down from generation to generation.
However, it's rare to find a piece of antique Peranakan jewelry now. A large number of its owners had melted the piece down and repurposed it, during the Great Depression and two World Wars, which was extremely common throughout the time. In addition, unlike the well-preserved Western antique jewelry, Asian antique jewelry was considered dated by the locals. So they asked the gold shop to disassemble the jewels and use the diamonds to make more fashionable ones.
Therefore, if you are lucky enough to come across a piece of Peranakan jewelry, think of what it had been through in order to be around today.

As the assessment of an item's condition is highly subjective, please click and enlarge our photos to examine more detailed condition highlights for your judgment.

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