Straits Chinese Porcelain

This is a quite excellent introduction to the porcelain that was specially made for the Straits Chinese. These merchant families prospered after the founding of Singapore in 1819 and their specially commissioned porcelain, notably involving the phoenix and flowers and lacking Buddhist or Taoist symbolism, was quite distinct from the export ware for other communities in the Chinese diaspora. The text is well illustrated with illustrations of this porcelain, and the history of it from the nineteenth century to the second world war. The book is excellent value, and makes it quite clear how to identify "nonyaware".

A good book to have in your library