Lot 181. A blue and white 'elephant' kendi, Ming dynasty, Wanli period (1573-1620); 21cm., 8 1/4 in. Est. 4,000—6,000 GBP. Lot sold 12,500 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's 2009

of typical form, painted in underglaze blue, Japanese wood box. 

Note: A similar elephant-form kendi, recovered from the Witte Leeuw (1613) cargo belonging to the Dutch East India Company, is illustrated in Jean Mudge, Chinese Export Porcelain in North America, 2000, p. 68, col. pl. 97. See also a group of seven kendi of this type included in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol II, London 1986, pls. 1294-1295; and another example, from the Mottahedeh collection and exhibited at the Virginia Museum between 1981-82, at the China Institute of America in 1984, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1984-85, sold in our New York rooms, 19th October 2000, lot 78.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, London, 13 May 2009.