SIXTEEN CHINESE BRONZE ARROWS.

Warring States Period.

Including three with barbed arrowheads, seven with rhombic-section arrowheads and six with trilobate solid tips, 24.5cm. (16)

戰國 銅箭十六支

Weighted arrows were an essential part of the Chinese game of taohu, in which the players attempted to throw arrows into the three necks of the vase. The ancient game may have began life as a drinking game, but developed with its own ritualised rules of etiquette as described in the Li Ji, Book of Rites, written during the Warring States period, 5th-3rd century BC. The game continued to be played throughout the centuries and appears to have generated particular interest from the Song to the early part of the Ming dynasty.

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