diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/json/JsonMapper.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/json/JsonMapper.java
index 4d660916519..83293b8853b 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/json/JsonMapper.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/json/JsonMapper.java
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 @ThreadSafe
 public interface JsonMapper extends ToJson {
 
+    public static final JsonMapper[] EMPTY_ARRAY = new JsonMapper[0];
+
     @NotThreadSafe
     public static class BuilderContext {
         private final JsonPath jsonPath;
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/json/JsonObjectMapper.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/json/JsonObjectMapper.java
index f0bf7a00e0d..e839d9e0820 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/json/JsonObjectMapper.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/json/JsonObjectMapper.java
@@ -411,7 +411,7 @@ public class JsonObjectMapper implements JsonMapper, JsonIncludeInAllMapper {
     }
 
     @Override public void toJson(JsonBuilder builder, Params params) throws IOException {
-        toJson(builder, params, null);
+        toJson(builder, params, JsonMapper.EMPTY_ARRAY);
     }
 
     public void toJson(JsonBuilder builder, Params params, JsonMapper... additionalMappers) throws IOException {