Swatow Ware

Swatow ware or Swatow is a common name for a group of mainly late Ming Dynasty export porcelain from China intended for the South East Asian market.

One of the probable reasons for this trade developing out of Swatow, or present-day Shantou, has to do with the disproportionately large numbers of ethnic Chinese migrating to South East Asia from Guangdong and neighboring Fujian Province. Their presence in South East Asia is still very much palpable, especially in Singapore and the Malaysian cities of Penang and Melaka.

The name Swatow is rendered in Teochew, belonging to a relatively small group of ethnic Chinese that reside within present day Canton or Guang Dong Province. Linguistically though, the dialect has more in common with the dialect of Fujian Province. Swatow literally means mountain head or head of the mountain.

Swatow ware is generally coarse, crudely potted and often under fired. Decoration in blue and white is by far the most common, although many polychrome wares, mainly with iron red and green over glaze decorations are well known.

Pictures below are the Swatow blue and white plates with a nicely written 'Fu' (福) calligraphy on it. It carries the meaning of prosperous, which is an important character in Chinese culture.

Plate 1
Diameter : 27cm
(Front)

Plate 1
(Back)

Plate 2
Diameter : 27.5cm
(Front)

Plate 2
(Back)

Plate 3
Diameter : 29cm
(Front)

Plate 3
(Back)

Plate 4
Diameter : 27.5cm
(Front)

Plate 4
(Back)

Plate 5
Diameter : 25cm
(Front)

Plate 5
(Back)

Plate 6
Diameter : 30cm
(Front)

Plate 6
(Back)

Three other Swatow plates with different unclear Chinese character written on it.

Plate 7
Diameter : 20.5cm
(Front)

Plate 7
(Back)

Plate 8
Diameter : 21cm
(Front)

Plate 8
(Back)

Plate 9
Diameter : 23.5cm
(Front)

Plate 9
(Back)

Below is another type of Swatow plate with phoenix and fish motifs on it.

Plate 10
Diameter : 29cm
(Front)

Plate 10
(Back)

Teochew Basket

Teochew Basket, 潮洲篮 (in Mandarin) is made of bamboo and wicker, decorated with auspicious motifs of pomegranates and peonies. This basket would be used as a container for ceremonial offerings, either as part of the ritual in weddings or for ancestral offerings. The loop at the top of the handle allowed bamboo poles to be slipped through them. People would hang this basket on each end of the pole and transport the baskets to their destination.

Teochew basket 1.

Teochew basket 1 (The other side).

Teochew basket 1.

Teochew basket 2.

Teochew basket 2 (The other side).

Teochew basket 2.

Incomplete set of Teochew basket 3.

Incomplete set of Teochew basket (The other side) 3.

Another type of old basket 4.

Also check the "Bakul Sia / Sia Basket".

Ladies' Purses

Here, I have collection of ladies' purses which are made for English ladies during the Victorian era. These purses or handbags were also being used by the more anglicized of Straits Nyonyas on certain formal occasions.

Purse 1 Size : 12cm x 13.5cm
From an artistic point of view, there is perhaps nothing remarkable about this Victorian-inspired Nyonya purse. However, when you begin to scrutinize the pouch carefully, you soon realize that it is made up of a fine network of tiny, hand-made silver rings. In fact, well over thousands individually soldered miniature rings ingeniously interlocked to give flexibility to the pouch. How much time, you may ask, was expended in putting together a network of thousands tiny, interlocking silver rings like this. The purse is suspended by chains attached at the topmost end to a clip which can be inserted into the side of a silver belt.

Purse 1

Purse 2 Size : 5.5cm x 10.5cm
This purse is used by the young Nyonya girl.

Purse 2

Purse 3 Size : 17.5cm x 19.5cm
Czechoslovakia needle point purse with floral design on both sides.

Purse 4 Size : 17cm x 25cm
Genuine Italian leather, "Antico" collection Bonia purse.

Purse 4

Purse 4

Purse 5 Size : 13cm x 15cm
Victorian silver mesh drawstring purse.

Purse 5

Purse 5

Purse 6 Size : 21cm x 35cm
Victorian crocheted purse.

Purse 6

Purse 6

Purse 6

Purse 6

Chinese Ginger Jar

Ginger jars are steeped in centuries of Chinese culture and history. A ginger jar is always shaped with a wide mouth, a domed lid and a bulging, bulbous spherical hand painted body. They come in various styles, sizes and also many different colours. The true Chinese antique ginger jar is made of porcelain and hand painted.

Porcelain Chinese ginger jars were originally used to store food supplies like salt, herbs, oil and ginger (rare spices at that time), while other ginger jars were allocated to be used as gifts. The jars acquired the name “ginger jars” because they often contained ginger when they were exported to the West.

It is not known exactly in what century ginger jars originated but they'd gained popularity in the Qin Dynasty, 秦朝 (221 BC–207 BC), the first ruling dynasty of Imperial China.

In the 19th century, ginger jars became a fashionable product mass produced for export to the West where they were being used as a decorative element rather than functional. Some ginger jars in the 21st century have been converted into lamps and flower pots!

Many blue and white ginger jars are representative of the Yuan Dynasty, 元朝 (1271 – 1368). They come with the Chinese character double happiness suggesting that they were given as presents for special occasions such as weddings.

Pictures below show the ginger jars from my collection.

Ginger jar 1
Picture 1

Ginger jar 1
Picture 2

Ginger jar 1
Picture 3

Ginger jar 2
Picture 4

Ginger jar 2
Picture 5

Ginger jar 2
Picture 6

Ginger jar 2
Picture 7
This picture shows the inside part of the "Ginger jar 2" with the age signs. Age signs give us an opportunity to determine whether a ceramic item is really antique or recently made. For example, the crackles and the glaze contractions show in this picture. The crackle lines may change to yellowish brown with age, which means the discolored crackles can be a sign of age. As for the glaze contractions, they are actually the small spots where a hole or recess appears on the surface of Chinese porcelain. The glaze either does not cover the clay body at all or shows a shallow recess (indent). They mainly appear on antique Chinese ceramics exceeding a certain age, and may be more frequent on porcelain of certain periods.