Straits Chinese Porcelain Joss Stick Holder

This tall, cylindrical porcelain vase is a joss stick holder for use on a Straits Chinese family altar. (The Straits Chinese were also known as the peranakan or the babas and nonyas.) It has a green background and cartouches on each side decorated in rose pink.  Each of the two main cartouches are decorated with a phoenix in flight and peonies – the phoenix and peony motifs are recurring themes in almost all porcelain commissioned from China for the Straits Chinese markets. The areas between the cartouches are amply decorated with sprays of pink peonies.

Phoenixes and peonies traditionally were associated with nonya brides. They were auspicious symbols for weddings and conjugal happiness thereafter, so most such items of nonyaware usually were commissioned for the large and lengthy weddings staged by wealthy Straits Chinese families.

The lower part of the vessel has a border of stylised lotus petals in the form of green and rose-pink lappets, and the upper part has a border of decorated with four of the  eight auspicious symbols of Buddhism.

The base is marked clearly in iron red enamel with a factory mark ‘Jing Zhen Tu Mao Xing Zao’. The first two characters name the city where the factory was located ‘Jing Zhen’ (Jingdezhen). The remaining four name the factory.

This mark is similarly identified and reproduced in Kee (2004, p. 139). Jingdezhen in China’s Jiangxi Province is from where most Straits Chinese porcelain was commissioned. Many of the kilns that produced porcelain for export to the various Straits Chinese communities had ceased production by the 1920s.

The Straits Chinese are the ethnic Chinese of the Straits Settlements and nearby areas who had been in Southeast Asia for enough generations that Southeast Asia was now their permanent home. They had also acculturated with local Malay communities to the extent that their Chinese traditions absorbed some Malay and related traditions, as well as some aspects of European culture. They were Daoist and Buddhist. Many spoke a local patois of the Chinese Hokkien dialect mixed with Malay. They regarded themselves as a distinct community quite apart from the Chinese who had emigrated from China more recently who retained their Chinese culture with little acculturation and who maintained their ties with China.

The upper rim retains traces of gilding. The polychrome enamelling has been applied unevenly here and there as is typical of much Straits Chinese porcelain. The vase is without cracks, chips or repairs.