Blue and White Kendi with a Phoenix among Clouds, Early Qing Dynasty

PP-0075

Description

A blue and white porcelain kendi with a compressed globular body, a full, rounded spout set on the shoulder, and a tall flaring neck with a broad flat flange below a short cylindrical mouth. A phoenix with a crested head, scaled breast and spread wings flies round the body among clouds and small discs. The spout is painted with a hatched, ribbon-tied motif and scrolls, its opening ringed by a scalloped collar, and the neck carries tall pointed panels filled with hatching above a row of small clouds. The blue is soft and slightly greyish.

The glaze has a grey-white tone and an even crackle. Inside the foot ring the base is thinly glazed; the ring itself is bare, the body fired orange at the edge. There is no mark. The kendi was made by a local potter rather than at the official kilns. Our Qing dynasty page gives the background.