While underglaze-red was not uncommon in the Yuan and early Ming, its scale of production did not increase greatly in the following centuries, unlike that of blue and white porcelain. This was largely due to a number of technical difficulties encountered by potters since copper as a colourant was volatile, and in effect produced an unpredictable range of shades from rich red to brownish grey, and often was dissipated in firing. Even so, many of the very finest underglaze-red-decorated porcelains appear to have been made in the early Ming, during the Hongwu period.

One of the most distinctive shapes among Hongwu underglaze-red porcelains is this kendi-type with compressed globular body. It is a non-Chinese vessel type used in parts of western Asia, India and Southeast Asia, where it is still in use today. Many kendi of this form were made in China in the latter part of the Ming and in the Qing Dynasty for export. Hongwu examples are usually painted with floral designs on the body, including peonies, prunus, bamboo, chrysanthemum, lotus and other water plants between petal and cloud-collar borders. Compare the examples in the Musée Guimet, Paris, Oriental Ceramics, the World's Great Collections, vol. 7, pl. 16; the Museum of Decorative Arts, Copenhagen, illustrated by Lion-Goldschmidt in Ming Porcelain, no. 23; two in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated by Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1980, col. pl. 42, and pl. 140; and from the former collection of Sir Harry and Lady Garner, illustrated by Lee and Ho, op. cit., pl. 177.

For further discussion of this vessel type, refer Khoo Joo Ee, Kendi: Pouring Vessels in the University of Malaya Collection, Singapore, Oxford University Press, 1991; Sullivan, Kendi, Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America, vol. 9, 1957, pp. 40-53; and Sumarah Adhyatman, Kendi, Traditional Drinking Water Container, Ceramic Society of Indonesia, Jakarta, 1987.

(US$250,000-380,000)