Straits Chinese Porcelain Teapot

This porcelain teapot is from the Straits Chinese community of Malaysia and Singapore. They were also known as the peranakan or the babas and nonyas. The teapot has a high, curved spout; an angular handle; a domed lid with a flattened, spherical pull; and a rounded body that tapers towards the top. It is decorated with a 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 teapot 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 in iron red enamel with the factory mark ‘Caoshuntai Zao’. This mark is similarly identified and reproduced in Kee (2009, p. 48). Most probably, this factory was based in Jingdezhen in China’s Jiangxi Province which 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, the rim of the lid, and the rim of the spout all retain traces of gilding. The polychrome enamelling has been applied unevenly here and there as is typical of much Straits Chinese porcelain. The teapot is without cracks, chips or repairs.