This café au lait utilitarian covered jar was a Chinese export porcelain made probably for the Dutch in Batavia (present-day Jakarta) during the 18th century. The form, size and style of panels decorated with flowers strongly resemble large chupus used by Peranakans in the 19th and 20th centuries in the Straits Settlements. The Straits Settlements was a British colony in the 19th and 20th centuries, and like Dutch Batavia of the 17th and 18th centuries, was a cosmopolitan bustling trading city with established wealthy communities like the Dutch Eurasians or the Peranakan Chinese. The Peranakan Chinese community commissioned export China at this time in a distinctive style that came to be termed ‘Nyonyaware’ by scholars. Much research remains as to the sources of inspiration for Nyonyaware style although it has been generally recognised to be modelled after export Chinese porcelain meant for Western market.
