Nine Peranakan or Straits Chinese Famille Rose Porcelain Spoons

These nine spoons were commissioned from makers in southern China by Straits Chinese or Peranakan clients in either of the Straits Settlements of Penang, Malacca or Singapore. Each spoon is decorated in famille rose with a flying phoenix and a peony blossom – auspicious motifs that the Straits Chinese used for their elaborate weddings – against a white background.

The edge rim of each is decorated with gold.

Each spoon is marked on the underside in orange-red with a bat motif and the ideogram 程 or ‘Cheng’. This is a surname and might have been the name of the shop owner or the commissioner of the spoons.

Large sets of such porcelain known as nonyaware (Straits Chinese womenfolk were referred to as nonyas and the men were babas) were commissioned from China and decorated specifically to Straits Chinese tastes – typically they sets were colourful and featured peony and phoenix motifs but rarely dragons.

The Straits Chinese used spoons like these for transferring gravy-rich, savory dishes to their plates and also for desserts which often encompassed preserved fruits in a sweet syrup. Many Straits Chinese families did not use chopsticks.

The spoons were also placed on household altars with food offerings for the family’s ancestors.

The nine spoons here are all in excellent condition. Each has the 程 mark.