Kitchen Qing: blue and white porcelain used for simple meals.
Steamed rice is a staple food in Chinese culture especially for the Southern Chinese who migrated to South East Asia in the 18th and 19th century because of civil wars, hardship and starvation.
The free trade between imperial China and Malaya under the British empire attracted many Chinese to move there as labourers.
Sketch of the day no 1264 in my moleskine sketchbook is of a Crane rice bowl lid.
BulanLifestyle.com 
September 18, 2019 at 19:56
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
AND ONE USED IT FOR EVERYTHING EDIBLE! 🙂
September 12, 2019 at 16:52
Interesting. In Europe the working class sometimes only had one plate per person.
September 11, 2019 at 12:49
I actually don’t know the museum Guimet. The very simple blue and white is for working class families who cannot afford the more fancy plates.
September 10, 2019 at 18:42
I love the elegance of a plate for “simple needs”. 🙂
Went to the Musée Guimet in Paris this summer. You probably know it, it is the museum of Asian arts. Almost everything is sooo invested with finery. Not sure how to say that. And that in so many Asian cultures and art.
Chines porcelain is a good example. (More at Cernuschi museum too)