Peranakan Chinese Porcelain

Exuberant, ornate and colourful, Straits Chinese porcelain is a variety of polychrome enameled export ware made to specification in China during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for the use of the Straits-born Chinese or Peranakan communities in Penang, Malacca and Singapore. Often called Nyonya ware after the Nyonyas or womenfolk of this unique subcategory of Chinese whose ancestors first settled in Malacca in the fifteenth century, it was used on festive occasions and for special functions such as weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and Chinese New Year. Straits Chinese porcelain is distinctive for its colourful famille rose enamels, enduring motifs, most often phoenixes, peonies and other symbols of marital bliss and longevity, and simple, functional shapes.