A JAPANESE IMARI KENDI, MID 18TH CENTURY

Of typical form with a bulbous spout and flaring neck ending in a everted rim, decorated in underglaze blue and overglaze enamels of green, red, yellow and gilt, depicting chrysanthemum and peonies above stiff leaves band.
Height: 19 cm.

Kendi were widely used in Asia for the ceremonial drinking of water or taking medicine. From the 1660s, kendi were made in Japan for export mainly to Asia as they were not used in the domestic market. Many have been found in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, but some were also exported to the Netherlands by the Dutch East India Company (VOC). In the Netherlands, kendi were more for interior decoration, sometimes used as vases.
For more information about kendi, see: Christiaan J.A. Jorg, Fine and Curious, Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections, (Amsterdam, 2003), p. 63-66; Oliver Impey, Japanese Export Porcelain – Catalogue of The Collection of The Ashmolean Museum Oxford, (Amsterdam, 2002), p. 183, no. 288. (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford); Ko-Imari Chosa Iinkai ed., Ko- Imari [Old Imari], (Kyoto, 1958), p. 211, no. 39 and 40