The plate is decorated with a broad band of scrolling vines and butterfly-like motifs around a single flower. It is an example of Straits Chinese blue and white porcelain which was very common in Peranakan households, where they were used for dining or ancestral offerings. According to the donor, this plate was used only for the ancestral altars in Botan House. This plate came from the collection of Botan House, which was built in 1883 and home to generations of the family of the shipping magnate Tan Kim Tian (1832-1882). His company Tan Kim Tian and Son Steamship Company was one of the first firms in Singapore to change their fleet of sailing ships to steamships.
