Apart from export Chinese porcelain, Peranakans in Penang also used porcelain imprinted with Penang landmarks that were imported from Europe. Import companies include the British-American Trading Company of the Straits Settlements, established in 1926. These plates may be of German origin and were perhaps imported around the 1930s. Penang scenes or landmarks are featured such as the Municipal Office, the clock tower and Fort Cornwallis. Special commemorative plates were also collected, such as one imprinted with “Their Majesties the King and Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor and Empress of India”. The plates are a visual and material testament of the strong British affiliations of the Peranakans at the turn of the century, a community who also prided themselves as “the King’s Chinese”.
