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Lot Essay
The form of these vases is based on arrow vases, or touhu, the primary accessory of a drinking game which involved throwing all of one's arrows into the mouth of the vessel. The loser was assessed a penalty drink for every errant throw.
Too small to actually be used in the drinking game, the present pair of vases was probably intended to hold flowers, perhaps on a home altar. A pair of Longquan arrow vases of the same height but with wider necks, was recovered from the tomb of the Yuan calligrapher Xian Yushu (1251-1302). See Zhang Yulan, "Hangzhoushi faxian Yuandai Xian Yushu mu," Wenwu, 1990:9, p. 24, figs. 11-12. A similar vase was included in the exhibition, The Scholar as Collector: Chinese Art at Yale, Yale University Art Gallery and China Institute in America, New York, 2004, p. 18, fig. 8.
Too small to actually be used in the drinking game, the present pair of vases was probably intended to hold flowers, perhaps on a home altar. A pair of Longquan arrow vases of the same height but with wider necks, was recovered from the tomb of the Yuan calligrapher Xian Yushu (1251-1302). See Zhang Yulan, "Hangzhoushi faxian Yuandai Xian Yushu mu," Wenwu, 1990:9, p. 24, figs. 11-12. A similar vase was included in the exhibition, The Scholar as Collector: Chinese Art at Yale, Yale University Art Gallery and China Institute in America, New York, 2004, p. 18, fig. 8.