In 1983, to have lobsters was regarded a sumptuous feast although it’s a heady concoction to eat it with Chinese wine mixed with a glass of beer. A squeeze of lemon helps maybe, but the chrysanthemum flowers could be in the plater just for decoration, for a more presentable still-life. This was painted a year before his death. Khaw Sia was a versatile pioneer, being adept at a variety of media and subjects such as still-life, portraits, landscape and was particularly noted for his painting of orchids, and hence, the tag as ‘Orchid King’. Khaw Sia was honoured with a posthumous Retrospective in 1998 by the Penang State Art Gallery. In 1937, he settled in Penang where he held his first solo in 1955. He studied at the Sin Hwa Academy, Shanghai, in China (1925-1932), and migrated to Penang in 1937.