Sold Ceramics - Sold Kraak Porcelain wares 1570-1645 - Closed Forms

Object 2011094

Kendi

China

1640-1645

Height 190 mm (7.48 inch), diameter 150 mm (5.91 inch), diameter of mouthrim 31 mm (1.22 inch), diameter of footring 92 mm (3.62 inch)

Kendi on footring with a slight melon shaped body, a bulbous spout, and raised shoulder. Decorated in underglaze blue with wide moulded panels filled with naturalistic and auspicious motifs alternating with narrow moulded panels with beaded pendants and lingzhi. On the shoulder two medallions filled with flaming pearls separated by a diaper pattern. On the spout a solid lozenge with tassels and groups of dots, around the neck plantain leaves. On the base an rectangular paper collectors label that reads: '78' and the remains of another paper label.

According to Rinaldi this Kendi can be classified as a Closed Forms Shape I.3a. Kendis with bulbous or flanged spouts (c.1590-1645). This is the most common of Kraak kendi shapes. The body is rounded and slightly depressed.The neck is long and may end with a flaring mouthrim, a dome-like shape or a flange. The spout may be bulbous or flanged. Bases are slightly convex and glazed.There are no known Kraak kendis with reign of shop marks.These kendis are heavily build in moulded sections luted together. Th decoration is in the classical Kraak sttyle. They com in several sizes from miniatures which measure about 130 mm (5.12 inch) in height to the normal size which may reach up to 250 mm (9.84 inch). (Rinaldi 1989, p.174)

The gorgelet or kendi is a pouring vessel with rounded sides, a bulbous spout and tall neck. The kendi was originally used in Asia for pouring wine or water. When the habit of smoking was introduced in Mohammedan countries, the kendi was also used as part of the Turkish water pipe set. (Pijl-Ketel 1982, pp.130-133)

The kendi is a drinking and pouring vessel widely used in Asia. Its basic shape is a bulbous body, a long neck and a tubular or breast-shaped (mammiform) spout on the shoulder. The kendi has no handle and one holds it by the neck and drinks from the spout. The kendi seems to have evolved from the Indian "kundika" and spread throughout Asia, changing shape and adapting to existing local vessels for similar use. Kendis of Chinese kraak porcelain of the first half of the 17th century and Japanese kendis of the second half were part of the Dutch East India Company's (VOC) porcelain assortment for the inter-Asian trade. Apparently, they also reached The Netherlands in small quantities, probably as part of the belongings of retiring VOC employees. They were not used according to their traditional function in The Netherlands, and must only have been decorative items or were filled with flowers as shown on paintings. (Jörg 2003/1, pp.63-66)

The word kendi is derived from the Sanskrit Kundika, the name given to an Indian ritual bottle, examples of which date from the third century BCE. The kundika evolved into the kendi (junchi in Chinese). Although kendis were made in China throughout the Yuan and Ming dynasties, most of them were exported to Southeast Asia, where they were used primarily for drinking water. During the seventeenth century the standard kendi was mammiform. Even when this form was made in the most basic, traditional shape, its decoration was Chinese in nature. Zoomorphic forms, which first appeared in the sixteenth century, also followed Chinese artistic conceits and occasionally added complex meanings that would have been unintelligible to most people in the intended Southeast Asian market, let alone to Europeans. Kendis were made in Jingdezhen almost exclusively, although some were also made in Yixing. While initially made for export to Southeast Asia, their exoticism-especially of the zoomorphic examples-earned kendis a ready market in Europe during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, and it was the Asian prototype that European and Japanese potters copied. The Dutch obviously collected kendis as curiosities, but since they had no discernible function occasionally they were transformed into ewers by being mounted in silver. Kendis are continued to be made in Southeast Asia, where they are still used in religious and civil ceremonies and daily life. (Sargent 2012, pp.86-95)

Condition: A firing flaw to the footring and a chip to the rim.

References:

Tokyo 1965, cat. 488

Pijl-Ketel 1982, pp.130-133

Rinaldi 1989, p.174 & Pl. 222-224

Jörg 2003/1, pp.63-66

Sjostrand & Lok Lok 2007, Serial No. 4926

Jörg 2011/1, cat. 23

Sargent 2012, pp.86-95

Price: Sold.