Period:Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Wanli period (1573–1620)
Date:late 16th century
Culture:China
Medium:Porcelain painted with cobalt blue under transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware)
Dimensions:H. 7 3/8 in. (18.7 cm); W. 5 1/2 in. (14 cm)
Classification:Ceramics
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1919
Accession Number:19.136.4
Chinese manufacture of this drinking vessel with a long neck and a spout, known as kendi (a Malay word), began during the fourteenth century for export to Muslim communities in Southeast Asia. By the sixteenth century it was carried farther afield to the Middle East, where Persian copies were made. This late sixteenth-century version, not necessarily made for export to Europe, is decorated in patterns that commonly were applied to kraak porcelain.