Housewife portrays the daily scenes of old Malaya with distinct batik textures. The composition depicts a lady engaged in her daily chores surrounded with three roosters. This work conveys elegance and shows Dato' Chuah Thean Teng's arrangement of spatial qualities, interweaved with delightful textures and rich shades. His figures are often abbreviated and elongated, a distinct trademark. Delicate touches of bright colour applied through a mosaic pattern enlivens the surface. In 1959, Teng became the first Malaysian artist to have an art exhibition overseas at the Commonwealth Institute in London. As acknowledged by Professor Michael Sullivan, Dato' Chuah Thean Teng was hailed as the 'Father of Batik Painting' (Chinese Art in the 20th Century, 1959), the only Malaysian to have started a world art genre, Batik Painting. He was among the world's art elite in the Commonwealth Artists of Fame exhibition, to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977. The National Art Gallery Malaysia accorded him an early Retrospective in 1965 and a Tribute in 2008, while Penang's Retrospective came in 1994. Penang also awarded him with the Dato' title in 1998 and the Living Heritage status in 2005. He established Yahong Art Gallery, first at Leith Street (1953) and then Batu Ferringhi (1994), which functions as his veritable museum which includes batik works of his three sons and two grandchildren. He also held solos in the United States and London (Commonwealth Institute). His batik mural commissions included the Malayan Embassy in Canberra, Australia (1959), Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur (1960), Malayan Tobacco Company, Kuala Lumpur (1960), and Bank Negara's branch in Penang (1974).