On the persistence of an old type of water-vessel
I.H.N. Evans’s brief note examines the persistence of a spouted clay water-vessel type (kendi) in the Malay Peninsula, tracing its distribution and probable Indian origin through comparative examples from Sumatra, Aceh, Java, China, and Nepal (p. 248).
Summary
Evans documents that spouted clay water vessels are still in use in Negri Sembilan and Perak, with modern locally-made examples held in the Perak Museum at Taiping (p. 248). He compares these with specimens in the Batavian Society’s Museum from the West Coast of Sumatra and Aceh, noting that the Sumatran pots most closely resemble the Negri Sembilan type while the Aceh examples are taller with a small air-hole rather than an open top (p. 248). Ancient comparanda include Chinese blue-and-white and green-glazed vessels from the Salayer Islands, a Javanese Hindu-period carving of Bhrkuti holding a spouted vessel, and a stone model from the Kedoe Residency catalogued as a gendi (p. 249).
Evans concludes that the type most likely originated in India and reached Java, with the Chinese examples possibly resulting from Buddhist transmission or from Chinese potters producing non-Chinese forms for export trade, as with Siam-ware and Sino-Persian ware (p. 249). He notes that Dr. Bosch of the Antiquarian Survey of the Dutch East Indies identified the form as a kendi common in Buddhist countries (p. 249).