Live Auction 13127Art of Japan
An Early Arita Kendi (Pouring Vessel) for the Vietnamese Market
Lot 66 The Property of a French Academic

An Early Arita Kendi (Pouring Vessel) for the Vietnamese Market

Edo period (mid-17th century)

Closed8 December 2016

Price Realised

GBP 25,000

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An Early Arita Kendi (Pouring Vessel) for the Vietnamese Market
Edo period (mid-17th century)
Of typical form with a bulbous spout and flaring neck ending in a everted rim, the body and spout ribbed and decorated in underglaze blue, the body, spout and mouth with karakusa scrolls, the shoulder, neck and mouth rim with floral karakusa, fitted with a metal mount
22.5 cm. high

Specialist note

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 as here 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 about kendi, see Christiaan J.A. Jorg, Fine and Curious, Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections, (Amsterdam, 2003), p. 63.

For other examples of kendi, see:
Christiaan J.A. Jorg, Fine and Curious, Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections, (Amsterdam, 2003), p. 64-66 (Princessehof Museum, Leeuwarden; Groninger Museum, Groningen)
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