The wash basin is decorated with a broad band of vines and sweet pea blossoms and a quatrefoil diaper base. It is painted brown on the outside. It is a variation of blue and white porcelain which was very common in Peranakan households. According to the donor, this basin was used at the ancestral altars in Botan House. This basin 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.
