Peranakan families usually purchased or commissioned vases in pairs for auspicious reasons. They were used as decorative objects on the dressing table in the wedding chamber to hold fresh cut flowers. Similar forms are commonly found in Chinese porcelain but this style of decoration shows that the Peranakan Chinese in Singapore, Malacca and Penang commissioned such pieces in the style they favoured – the Nonyaware. This is a rare example of a famille rose, turquoise-ground Peranakan Chinese porcelain baluster vase with the dragon motif.
