Pouring vessel (Kendi)

Meissen Manufactory

ca. 1710–12 · Stoneware with raised decoration · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Used principally in Southeast Asia for drinking and pouring, the kendi is loosely based on an earlier Indian form. This German example is decorated with dragons and clouds on the neck, flowering narcissus on the body, and the heads of the lingzhi fungus at the foot and rim, motifs that derive from China, where kendi-type vessels were often made for export. This type of red stoneware body is known as Böttger stoneware, named after the man who developed it at the Meissen factory.

Artist

Meissen Manufactory

Date

ca. 1710–12

Medium

Stoneware with raised decoration

Culture

German, Meissen

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

The George B. McClellan Collection, Gift of Mrs. George B. McClellan, 1941