THE IDENTITY OF AMBIGUITY (Part 1)

© Ken Yap

Dedicated to God, who knows the truth; to those whom I love; and in memory of LLC.

PART 1 – 12th. December 2020 - EXPOSITION

Recently I have been looking at the Victoria pattern by the famous Herend Porcelain Manufactory of Hungary which debuted at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, where it was awarded a gold medal. Featuring a profusion of Chinese-inspired butterflies, peonies and other flowers, Queen Victoria was so taken with it that she reportedly ordered a dinner set for Windsor Castle, and henceforth this iconic pattern bore her name. I was wondering if this pattern would have influenced the all-embracing and particularly Anglophilic Chinese Peranakan culture of the Straits Settlements of Malaya and Singapore in any way – maybe in their porcelain wares - at a time when the Taiping Rebellion saw the destruction of the Jingdezhen kilns in 1855, as a result of which Chinese porcelain production was halted until 1866.

The period after the Taiping Rebellion represented a new era and direction for Jingdezhen kilns and Chinese aesthetics in general, spurred on in no small part by the growing influence, input and patronage of the Empress Dowager Cixi, who as it happens was also enamoured of butterflies. After co-regent Empress Dowager's Ci'an's death on the 8th. of April 1881, Empress Dowager Cixi ruled solo and supreme behind the imperial curtain. Her love of excess, flamboyance and her wish for eternal youth, beauty, power, longevity and, of course, prosperity, was made manifest in all manner of beautiful birds, butterflies, flowers and symbols, culminating with the majestic and all-powerful phoenix surrounded by lush peonies, symbol of spring and flower of riches and honour, the sovereign of flowers. (Longsdorf, 1996, p.69). Because of the imperial commissions, bold and bright colours dominated late 19th. century Chinese porcelain as a progression from Qianlong colours, with a new bright blue becoming especially popular, which coincidentally echoed Wedgwood's famous blue jasperware which also started in the 18th. century, the period of the great Emperor Qianlong's reign.

I believe this was what informed the classic phoenix nyonyaware porcelain design, while mirroring the Peranakans' richly-coloured ethnic aesthetic which linked both East and West, light blue eventually became a favourite colour in Peranakan beadwork in the early 20th. century.

The Chinese Peranakans comprise of many indigenous permutations, but their common denominator is Chinese ancestry. They were predominantly Taoists, with some Buddhist overtones. In 1826, the Straits Settlements was established as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company. Chinoiserie-tinted spectacles meant that these chelop Chinese (note 1) descendants of the pioneering merchant settlers were as Chinese as they came.

The Peranakan menfolk, the Babas, went to English schools in the early 1800s and associated closely with their British colonialists, while the women, the Nyonyas, did not have the advantage of serious education until the tail end of that century. With a massive influx of pure Chinese in the mid 19th. century to the Nanyang (South Seas) and in particular British Malaya and Singapore, these newcomers – the sinkeks – saw the odd, neither-here-nor-there acculturated Chinese Peranakans as an enigma, while the Chinese Peranakans in return looked coolly at the coolies, many of whom had arrived with only the clothes on their backs, although those who showed promise were eventually assimilated into their households via matrilocal marriages.

The nouveau riche Chinese Peranakans had cause to be even more arrogant when the Straits Settlements became a Crown colony of Britain on the 1st. of April 1867 and they proudly became British subjects on April Fools' Day. Partially by mixing too much with the Smiths and Joneses, but mostly through centuries of adapting to a foreign land, the majority had lost their literacy in Chinese and could scarcely make sense of couplets and calligraphy, let alone decipher the significance of Chinese motifs and rebuses. It could have been rather demeaning to be politically labelled “Straits Chinese” by their colonial masters – which they treasured - while lacking in the language department and having insufficient physical features to show for it. What better then than to appear more Chinese than even the Chinese by overt materialism and shoving to the forefront as many Chinese ostentatious markers as possible crammed into every conceivable space, and with increasingly elaborate rituals (note 2), while preserving their indigenousness to such a degree that their relationship with the various ethnicities of the local population could continue smoothly. With such splendid show of wealth and blindingly fabulous material culture, how could anyone deny them their caste and their Chineseness? (Note 3).

PART 2 – CONFRONTATION

With phoenixes firmly in charge behind silken curtains, who wants to be dragons on the throne or in the realm of the gods?

Imagine if you will stories of the Empress Dowager Cixi being related to a rich Baba who wanted one-upmanship, or to an uneducated, illiterate Nyonya matriarch in charge of her children and household who cannot lose face; a glorified necessary woman, lady-in-waiting and cook, in a matchmade marriage to a husband with oft roving eyes; imagine finding out that the Empress Dowager Cixi was the real power behind the throne and was known as “Old Master Buddha”. What promises would eight protective Buddhist emblems hold for them who were in many respects local aristocracy, who were desirous to set themselves as superior, but who have probably never seen a peony before in their lives? What better then than for their newlywed offspring - the "King and Queen for the Day" - to host their celebratory dinner on porcelain featuring an imperious phoenix, peonies and eight Buddhist emblems, to complement their Taoist paraphernalia such as the bride's important Eight Immortals headband? Even though the individual design elements might not have been new, perhaps the whole rebus was greater than the sum of its parts. More is more. Here was top of the range porcelain with a very penoh design (note 2); pink peony for an obedient girl, blue for a filial son, yellow for a regal heir. Salesmanship plus gossip of news from abroad would be lapped up: how the Empress dowager Cixi had full control over her son the Emperor Tongzhi and like every mother heaped hopes upon her own flesh and blood that he would emulate the grandeur and significance of the Kangxi Emperor, one of China's greatest emperors, who also ascended the Dragon Throne as a child and was controlled by a Grand Empress Dowager and four regents for the first six years of his reign.

And so started a tradition and I believe this was how the classic phoenix nyonyaware design came to be. At that time, Shanghai was fast overtaking Canton as the main export emporium after the Taiping Rebellion. The Peranakans in Melaka called this kind of fine porcelain “paso Shanghai” while those in Penang referred to it as “Shanghai por oowa”, in other words Shanghai ware or export ware. By not calling it ware that they designed tells me that they were rather consumers of it, like Queen Victoria was. The gendered term Nyonyaware was coined by antique dealers and collectors only in the 1960s and from then on the Peranakan identity had stricter borders, whereas before it had been more fluid and not so self-obsessed. So much for the luxury of modernity, freedom and choice.

Nyonyaware is taken as an umbrella term for all the porcelains of different designs of the Chinese Peranakans, but in this article I talk about the representative classic phoenix design only.

A collection all bearing the mark “Shi Le Yu Xing Long zao”.

The old informal name for Singapore was Shi Le Po, while selat in Malay means Straits, as in “Selat Melaka”, which is flanked by Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia on one side and Sumatra on the other, the main shipping channel between the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. Yu Xing Long must have been the name of the shop or factory. As a point of interest, the teapot was from a “Chinese” family in Vietnam who migrated to Germany. Please note the two cups probably date from a later period.

Besides this reference, there is also a family-run concern – Shun Tai Xiang – established prior to the Sino-Japanese War, which had a kiln in Jingdezhen plus shops in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Yunnan, Singapore and Hong Kong. The Singapore branch - Soon Thye Cheang - was opened in 1927, with a further branch established in Penang after that. Starting off with the humble spoon and moving on to restaurant ware – and also nyonyaware for their rich clients - they cornered the Singapore and Malayan markets, and also sold to Indonesia. [1], [2[ & [3].

Five examples of owners' names on the classic phoenix design are:

1. Chen Jin Long (Tan Kim Long in Hokkien).

2. Qiu Zhen Ming (Khoo Chin Beng in Hokkien).

3. Qiu Yi Ji (Probably a brand name).

4. Son-in-law Wu Kai Di (Goh Kai De in Hokkien).

5. Madam Xie Bai Xue (Cheah Phaik Suat Neoh in Hokkien), born 20th. April 1875, died 19th. July 1936. Her life more or less coincided with the golden age of the Peranakans (which is basically the same period as the mass influx of singkehs from a troubled China). She was the daughter of Cheah Chen Eok, the famous Penangite and loyal British subject who erected the landmark clock tower dedicated to Queen Victoria upon the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee, at King Edward's Place. (Geni.com).

Reminded of my original quest, I wrote to the Royal Collection Trust in London to find out what the original Herend Queen Victoria pattern looked like, as there was bound to have been differences and variations over the years, just as there has been with nyonyaware.

As far back as the Song and Ming dynasties, porcelain agents have been doing their research to see what was popular and having them produced in China. Kendis come immediately to mind. Nyonyaware was often gifted by parents to their offspring for their weddings. However, the earliest pieces of the phoenix design which bore Peranakan names were on white ground with white borders, which is rather surprising as white is a colour generally avoided in Chinese Peranakan culture, which matched their underclothes but not so much their organic earth-toned kain chaylay baju panjangs and batik Lasem outerwear. Porcelain with festive green, pink and coral red grounds were available by then, but perhaps did not find so much favour as they did not feature the selling point of that all-important bird which represented the empress; coloured-ground porcelain was also more costly as the background colour had to be painstakingly filled in. It could be though that white represented purity and virginity, so important if you wanted your tempat sireh to stay in its tempat. (Note 4).

The Peranakans are known for their innovative adoption and adaption, from language to food to the decorative arts. They adapted different elements from different cultures according to their liking: culture to them was not a cake but merely the ingredients for one, with dollops of their special, indescribable icing on top. They kept pattern books and samplers of beadwork, cross stitch and kebaya sulam motifs from which to produce their unique masterpieces. Their embroidery and beadwork hardly ever feature complete dynamic compositions of large motifs like their phoenix nyonyaware, but rather comprise of symmetrical floating motifs with the gaps filled in by other smaller motifs and textural elements. (Cheah, 2010, pp. 220-224). Likewise their interior design relies heavily on symmetry.

These are all reasons why I have always had difficulty in believing that they would come out with such a porcelain design of their own like the Thais did with Bencharong ware or the Europeans with armorial ware. More than one person has put their name to this pattern. Put it this way: if I had come up with the pattern in the hope for exclusivity, I should not have allowed every Tom, Dick and Harry – including my rivals - to call it their own. My conclusion is that their names represented some kind of personal stamp - like a monogram – on an existing design.

I do, however, firmly believe that the Peranakans had a great part to play in the evolution of nyonyaware by their buying pattern and suggestions for tweaks and variations in their quest for one-upmanship. Common sense tells me this resulted from dialogue between customer, agent and factory. Oral history has it that some Peranakans ordered through local agents while others went to the source country to order direct. It took about a year for the orders to be completed. In the absence of any proof like sketches, invoices or bills of lading, I believe that commissioning from the workshop direct also entailed being shown sample motifs, colours and shapes, and it was left to the workshop to bake the cake.

I rather fancy the original production of the white pieces was restricted solely to basic tablewares such as spoons and spoon rests, condiment dishes, plates, bowls, covers, cups and saucers. O kamcheng, kam cheng, wherefore art thou? (Note 5).

Storage and fancy pieces most likely came later (as the Peranakans' wealth and want of stature kept increasing), and are mostly of the coloured variety, which probably started with a pink border on the original white-ground wares and perhaps a white ogival panel on the fanciful coloured wares. If this turns out not to be the case however, it would be a good excuse to eat my kueh pie tee. (Note 6).

Even though I have no qualms with the labelling, I have great difficulty believing the unsubstantiated claims that they were made strictly for the Peranakans. Adjectives like exclusive and unique do not appeal to my brand of logic and common sense, except for the sets which bear their personalised marks of course. Can only Queen Victoria buy her Herend namesake pattern?

Consider the plight of a workshop owner in order to maximise profits. If you were the owner of Herend porcelain, would you deprive others of buying the Victoria pattern? Indeed, it has remained in constant production to this day and is a hot collector's item. It could just as well have been named after after the cultural group of its main customers. One would certainly expect the Chinese to be even more astute in the business realm.

Even though the Peranakan community might buy more nyonyaware, why should any other culture not find a spectacular bird surrounded by luscious blooms and encircled by exotic lotus buds and mysterious beribboned Oriental symbols desirable? Indeed the bird and flower design was globally popular in the Victoria era, and still is. It is a classic combination.

Significant amounts of nyonyaware are found in Indonesia as they have their own brand of Peranakan Tionghua culture. A sizeable amount made its way to Siam, many via Phuket Babas and Yayas who went to Penang to shop and for their children's education. Nyonyaware is also found in Bangkok, identified by their owners simply as Qing dynasty ware, with no idea who the Chinese Peranakans are. Numerous antique dealers and collectors acquire pieces from there. Nyonyaware has even been seen used as flowerpots by the Filipino Chinese mestizos.

Nyonyaware is indicative of the design, with timeframe a qualifier. Quality is relative and often too subjective to be taken into consideration, and it shows in that many of the notorious fakes of recent years – pieces shunned by museums and scorned by famous veteran collectors - are ironically taken to be precious heirlooms and praised beyond belief.

As far as provenance goes, nothing has changed. Peranakans still buy new nyonyaware for usage, for festive occasions, for ancestral worship; featured in social media and professed as such by the Peranakans themselves. The only difference is that now there are many more tourists than before and much more of a global market, while practising Chinese Peranakans number far fewer.

Before I started this article, I sent out a questionnaire to 26 knowledgable Peranakans, collectors, researchers and academics, as well as laymen on the subject, to see what they made of the examples below. See what you think. Which are the pieces which have the owners' names on them? Where did the pieces come from? Which cannot be deemed to be nyonyaware?

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Fig. 17

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Note 1: Not pure and authentic.

Note 2: It is taken for granted that the Peranakans favoured very full (“penoh”) designs and had a horror vacui.

Note 3: I believe the key to their behaviour stems from many years of probably being looked down upon, discriminated against and even bullied due to their mixed blood and station in life. Because of that, validation, sense of belonging and an appreciation of their mixed nature are of especial worth to them. Their Straits Chinese label brought with it an implication of something approaching pure. This was carried further with their post-colonial Peranakan label, which produced the self-anointed preferential status of “pure Peranakan”, as oxymoronic as that is. The equal and opposite reaction extended to aspirations of being superior and preferably a member of the ruling class.

Note 4: Of vital importance to Peranakan culture, the “tempat sireh” or betel nut set featured prominently on the 12th. and last day of their weddings, when the bride's virginity was discreetly confirmed by blood on a white handkerchief. If there was any cause for suspicion or doubt, the groom's family could upset the tempat sireh and declare the marriage invalid. “Tempat” also means place.

Note 5: A kamcheng (e.g. Fig. 8) is simply a covered pot which has been singled out by collectors, filmmakers and the Peranakans themselves as a prime symbol of the Peranakan culture. They are of a generic Chinese porcelain shape and scarcely if ever appear in old photographs, whereas cups, vases, epergnes and spittoons do. “Kam cheng” is a homonym for affection, which I do not imagine was utmost in the minds of parents when ordering dinner sets for their children, especially when other pieces of crockery do not hold any special meaning. I believe part of the reason for the kamcheng's glorification was that as they numbered far fewer, they were inherited by the more major members of the family, either given subjectively by relatives or shared out objectively by lawyers and executors. They are also more decorative, with heavy covers, and so are perfect for processions and festive ceremonies. The public would have seen the kamcheng as representational of the Peranakan culture. As time went on and wealth increased, so too did kamchengs grow in stature. Note that as kamchengs are not usually plonked in the centre of a tok panjang/ th’ng tok/ long table feast, it is not imperative they match the dinnerware with any degree of exactitude. They look much more attractive with their heavy covers in place, so are well suited as storage and pickling containers. In China, they have been around since the late Ming period and are called "zhou guan", or porridge pots, a surprising homonym for "becoming a minister". (收藏, as reported in每日头条: 2018).

Note 6: A delicious Peranakan hors d'oeuvre also affectionally called Nyonya top hats because of their shape.

- END OF PART 2 -