A kendi is a drinking vessel. A long, open neck rises above a bulbous body with a side spout. Different variations of this vessel shape, originally from India, are known. The name is of Malay origin and is derived from the Sanskrit word “kundi” (spout), which later became kundika. The Buddhist pilgrimage flasks known by this name are also considered to be possible models for the kendi shape. Kendis came to China via Southeast Asia from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries onward, where they often followed the non-figurative South Asian model (cf. inv. no. 10867, for example). In Chinese export porcelain for the Near East and Europe, however, playful modifications appeared from the late sixteenth century, for example as a toad, as in the case shown here, or as an elephant. Comparable pieces in the collection of the Museum Angewandte Kunst are the Frankfurt faience toad kendi (inv. no. 12234) and the Iranian elephant kendi (inv. no. 15549).