This porcelain wine cup was used in a Peranakan home as an altar vessel. Altar vessels were used for making offerings of food, flowers and drink, and also, for burning candles and incense sticks. They included dishes, bowls, cups and spoons, which were laid out as if to present a meal to the ancestors. Porcelain of different colours was used at the different altars in Peranakan homes. Yellow enamelled wares were kept for use on the grand altar known as 'sam kai', which was installed on special occasions to worship Ting Kong, the Daoist Emperor of Heaven. 'Famille rose' porcelain such as this piece (where pink was the predominant enamel among a palette of colours) was most likely to have been used at the ancestral altar, where elaborate offerings of food were made at least four times each year. Occasionally, these vessels were made of other materials such as silver.
