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Arrow vase of pear form with a long neck and a spreading foot. The base flat and unglazed. Applied below the rim six vertical hollow tubes, around the neck and the sides six rectangular plaques in relief, all painted in underglaze blue. Between the plaques on the sides six circular medallions with Arabic script, around them and on the shoulder ruyi- and cloud motifs, outlined in underglaze blue and filled in with green and yellow enamels. Around the neck in underglaze blue from the shoulder upwards a border of hanging pointed leaves, leaf motifs and a key-fret border, below the rim between the tubes another key-fret border. On the foot a standing and hanging pointed leaf border in underglaze blue filled in with green and yellow enamels.
Arrow vases were made for a complicated game called touhu that involved drinking and throwing arrows in the narrow tubes from a fixed distance. Players were forced to drink at each miss. However, the observing of the proper rules and etiquette of this game was even more important. In the Ming dynasty the game was popular among scholars, aristocracy and rich merchants. The vase is a ceramic version of bronze and iron examples, a bronze one with two tubes flanking the neck having been excavated from a 15th century tomb in Sichuan. The painting is done in the doucai style, with soft enamel colours within underglaze blue outlines. The combination of soft green and the underglaze blue contours on this vase is reminiscent of this technique that originated in the early 15th century and is especially famous for the splendid examples of the Chenghua (1465-1487) era. The technique continued in the early 16th century. On later pieces like this vase it becomes rare. Pieces with Arabic script were mainly intended for Muslim customers. Similar arrow vases are in the Musée Guimet in Paris and in the Percival David Collection in London. The vase was obtained in Indonesia.
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