This bowl is an example of Peranakan Chinese porcelain or Nyonya ware made from overglaze polychrome enamelled porcelain with gilt edged rim. It carries the auspicious mark “Zhao Cai Jin Bao” which translates to a call for wealth and treasure. The main decorative motifs include a phoenix in flight. Its head is painted pink and it has a scaly green body with details outlined in black and a long ochre tail that fans out in three separate directions. The phoenix is an auspicious symbol representing beauty, grace, high virtue, the Bride and the Empress. These are painted against a rose pink background, which represent happiness and longevity, youthfulness and innocence. There is also a light green border pattern decorated with symbols from the eight auspicious Buddhist emblems such as the Conch Shell and the Wheel of Law. In a Peranakan household, such a bowl could have been used to serve main dishes cooked with gravy or creamy glutinous rice or juice based desserts.
