Page 82 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

1631
A RARE BLUE AND WHITE ‘FROG’ KENDI
WANLI PERIOD (1573-1619)
The ewer is naturalistically modeled as a frog seated with its head raised, with a short spout issuing from
its mouth, and supporting a tall, cylindrical neck on its back. The body is decorated with fower heads
below a band of overlapping ruyi-heads around the base of the neck, which is decorated with a bird
perched on a blossoming prunus tree.
7º in. (18.4 cm.) high

$40,000-60,000

PROVENANCE
Private collection, Switzerland.
Animal-shaped vessels were popular in China from early times, such as the multiple forms of animal
vessels produced in Yue ware during the Jin dynasty. The frog was a particularly important form, since
the frog is a symbol of longevity.
Kendis of this unusual form are in several museum collections, including the Princessehof Museum,
Leeuwarden, illustrated by M. Rinaldi, Kraak Porcelain, A Moment in the History of Trade, London, 1989,
pl. 234, no. 181; the Ardebil Shrine, Tehran, illustrated by John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains from
the Ardebil Shrine, London, 1981, pl. 97, no. 29.465; and two in the Topkapi Saray Museum, illustrated by
R. Krahl and J. Ayers, Chinese Porcelains in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, London, 1986, vol. II, pp.
730-31, nos. 1296 and 1297. Another example in the Percival David Foundation, but with a faceted neck,
is illustrated by S. Pierson, Illustrated Catalogue of Underglaze Blue and Copper Red Decorated Porcelains
in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 2004, pp. 67-68, no. A669. A further example,
but with the neck reduced, is illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall in Ming Ceramics in the British Museum,
London, 2001, pp. 283-84 no. 11:16. The example in the British Museum was acquired in India, attesting
to the popularity of such vessels across the trading routes and diplomatic exchanges of Asia and Europe.
See, also, a ‘frog’ kendi in the Edward T. Chow Collection Part One, sold at Sotheby Parke Bernet, Hong
Kong, 25 November 1980, lot 10.
明萬曆 青花蛙形軍持

(another view)
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