In Straits Chinese porcelain, there are interestingly no rice bowls as rice was always served on plates. This is a 'mangkok laok' or a large bowl that is used to serve up main dishes with gravy. The collective Baba Malay term for dining ware is 'pinggan mangkok', which literally means 'plates and bowls'. A full set of dinner wares could consist of hundreds of pieces and a wide range of shapes and sizes. Wealthy Peranakan families often commissioned the highest quality porcelain wares for special occasions that would bear their surnames. These wares would have elaborate decorations of phoenix and peony motifs, and colourful enamelled backgrounds.
