Live Auction 3017European Noble and Private Collections
A Chinese late Ming blue and white 'arrow vase'
Lot 483

A Chinese late Ming blue and white 'arrow vase'

SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY

Closed13 December 2012

Price Realised

EUR 15,000

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A Chinese late Ming blue and white 'arrow vase'
Second half 16th Century
Modelled on splayed foot, the bulbous sides and short neck each modelled with a band of upright rectangular bands, the sides painted with six roundels enclosing pseudo-Arabic script, between cloud-scrolls, the foot and neck each with a row of stiff leaves
14 cm. high

Specialist note

Porcelain arrow vases were originally derived from similar bronze models. These were used in a popular game for the wealthy upper class in which the aim was to throw arrows in the vase or in the tubes around the neck. More important than winning was the proper use of ettiquette during the game.
The neck of this particular vase is shortened and used to have an elongation with several tubes around the top. Similar vases are found in the Percival David Foundation (see the Illustrated Catalogue, section 5, no. A662) and in the Baur Collection (see J. Ayers, The Baur Collection, Vol. II, no. A184). Similar vases but with doucai colours are found in the Princessehof, Leeuwarden and in the Musée Guimet, Paris.