Blue and White Kendi with Galloping Horses, Jiajing Period, Ming Dynasty

PP-0076

Description

A blue and white porcelain kendi with a globular body, a full, rounded spout set on the shoulder, and a tall flaring neck that ends in a broad flat flange below a short mouth. Two horses gallop round the body, one on each side, each running towards the spout among clouds and long streaming ribbons, above a band of stylised waves at the foot. The spout is painted with clouds and dots, the shoulder with a band of radiating panels, and the neck with tall pointed panels enclosing scrolls. The flange is painted with radiating petals. The blue is a strong, slightly greyish cobalt, deeper where it has pooled.

The base is glazed within a low foot ring, the ring showing an orange tone at the edge where the body was exposed in firing. We attribute the kendi to the Jiajing period, in the 16th century.