Bows From Persia

[jack farrell]

Oh; This is another good find. I would suppose the iron plates are patches. On the limb with two, the first was probably not enough. Andrew Hall has found another bow with a metal patch.

JJ, you might notify K. Zellinger that this is a bow quite like his labeled as "Turkestan" bow in the Bows and arrows Museum publication (Yesterday and Today) p.261.

This solves a real riddle because of the shape of the bow and that it has attached bridges. -j-

[redhawk]

Thanks hcspng for sharing these pics.
Outstanding bows, I?m done and love them!

Michael

[Dusan]

Fantastic pics, hcspng. Thank you. That very colored one looks like one from Crepy museum from France. Maybe same master (?)

Iron plate in limb is only nonsensitivy work from some museum workers. I see this in many variations in museums . This people written in bow limbs vith permanent markers, glued papers or wooden ...or iron plates.

[hcspng]

Thank you everyone as soon as i can i'll go to Millitary Museum of Tehran and measure about ten bows there and put the pics here.

Dusan i think that it was pounch in old days and it was on both limb back and belly and old keepers have done this it's terrible!

[Dusan]

hcspng, , thats fantastic plan ! Go and measure and shot many pics . You very help us .

[Bede]

Regarding steel bows, Kay Koppedrayer wrote an article in the Journal of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries about how steel bows were used in training young archers in South India. Due to various religious reasons, steel bows were popular with the Sikhs in the Punjab too. The steel bow in Tehran looks Indian rather than Persian because of the decoration which is identifiably Indian. However, Iranian artisans might have made it for the Indian market so that is no guaranty of the origin. Other uses of steel bows was as arsenal weapons stored in fortresses in case of emergency since they did not deteriorate. They could be used in elephant howdahs on tiger hunts for an emergency weapon too or in corridors in a castle. They are usually smaller and shorter in draw than the normal composite bows used in the same country.

The painted bow looks like the one in Arms and Armor from Iran: The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period . This style of Persian bow seems to survive in two states. In one it has retained considerable reflex and in the other it has opened out by following the string. I think this is related to the method of storage. Some bows were left strung in collections for years. I remember seeing one in an interview hanging on the wall of the Gulistan Palace. Others were put away unstrung after being properly cared for. These ones keep their reflex. In the past, before the many bows made in recent times in the old manner, some authors thought the highly reflexed bows were unused, but this now seems unlikely. Other reasons for the bow opening out are that it was strung before it fully cured or that it was deliberately left that way to make it easier to string and draw.

The diagnostic features of this bow type are an angle between the kasan and the bash, another angle between the kasan and the working part of the bow limb, wide limbs, and a covered belly with multiple strips of horn.

The kasan and bash together were called the gusha or gosha which was same as the Arabic siyah and it means ear.

[Adam Karpowicz]

I would rather think the reflexed bow originated in India rather than in Persia. It seems the ridged kasan goes a little beyond the kasan/sal bend, whch may be characteristic of the Indian bows. The angle of the bend there would vary (with an extreme angle in the crab bow) and these area would not flex in use at all. In Persian bows the kasan/sal may have an acute angle as well, but the ridged section stops short of the bend. This makes the bow flex there, unlike in the Indian bows. The two types would then function differently, although the rest of the construction is identical: the wide limbs, the small grip, the varying reflex in the limbs/grip. Of course there would be intermediate styles too. I hope someone will investigate the matter in depth taking into account the above details.

The other bow looks like a variant of the Crimean-Tatar bow with a little less reflex in the grip. The curvature of the kasan and the kasan eye is correct for this style and the bow has a bridge as well. The bridge appears to be build-up with an added piece of wood over the original horn.

Adam

[ravenbows]

It is so impressive to me that these bows were not just tools to be used but pieces of art, an opportunity for the builder to express himself. Remarkable and what a joy to behold today.

[Bede]

Adam,
As you know from working with Manochehr, some of the bows are dated and signed so it would be worth finding out more about the bows themselves. Considering the number of Persian weapon makers who migrated to India, there might be some trouble identifying anything by workmanship alone.

I take your point about the transition of the ridged section to the bending limb, but is there any reason to believe this is anything other than a regional variation. The Qizlibash troops were of Anatolian Turkish origin and may have brought more Turkish styles of design with them. The Qajars had links to the Caucasus as did the later Safavid shahs who used many Georgian ghulam troops. This could either explain a Crim Tatar influence in Persia or alternately a Persian influence in the Caucasus and the Crimea.

In art, the ridge of the kasan is sometimes shown all the way down to the bending part of limb and sometimes not. I know artisic representations cannot solve this problem, but there is a fair number from both the Safavid and the Qajar period and many of them do look like surviving bows.

[Adam Karpowicz]

I think the extremes of this construction would be more than the regional difference, since the bows would look different when strung and especially when drawn, due to the flexing, or the lack of it, at the kasan/sal transition. The other bow is so obviously Tatar that it was almost certainly made by a bowyer who either worked for the Caucasian/Tatar troops or lived there.

Adam

[Bede]

Adam,
Considering that many Crim Tatar bows were being made in Istanbul, I wouldn't be surprised if the similar bows used in the Caucasus were not sometimes made in Iran.

I will have to sit down with all the pictures I have of Persian bows and see if I can come up with a typological pattern similar to yours. Considering the four main styles of bows used in India, even a Persian bow by your definition could be made there.

I look more to the kasan/bash angle to define the bow though I admit it is less significant that the kasan/sal portion as a structural feature. Comparing the bows I have seen as identified as Persian and taking into account the literary references, I would be surprised if there was only one physical type of bow in use in Iran.

Technically there is no reason that a crab bow made in India could not be adjusted to have some Persian features. Some of the Mogul bows illustrated in Pant's photographs have a crab bow K/S junction and a Persian K/B junction.

[mongolianarcher]

Adam,
As you know from working with Manochehr, some of the bows are dated and signed so it would be worth finding out more about the bows themselves. Considering the number of Persian weapon makers who migrated to India, there might be some trouble identifying anything by workmanship alone.

I take your point about the transition of the ridged section to the bending limb, but is there any reason to believe this is anything other than a regional variation. The Qizlibash troops were of Anatolian Turkish origin and may have brought more Turkish styles of design with them. The Qajars had links to the Caucasus as did the later Safavid shahs who used many Georgian ghulam troops. This could either explain a Crim Tatar influence in Persia or alternately a Persian influence in the Caucasus and the Crimea.

In art, the ridge of the kasan is sometimes shown all the way down to the bending part of limb and sometimes not. I know artisic representations cannot solve this problem, but there is a fair number from both the Safavid and the Qajar period and many of them do look like surviving bows.

The Qizlibash history or should I say legacy in Afghanistan is particularly interesting. They seemed to act as a warrior elite that was called upon for a long time for foreigners to assume power in the Pashtun regions. Even the English declared them allies during the First Anglo-Afghan War. So it's interesting they maintained their Turkic-style bows as opposed to adopting Persian ones.

Lucas

[Bede]

Lucas,
Bows in Afghanistan are really quite interesting and diverse in form. Some look like enlarged Chahar Kham bows (i.e. Sind bows) and others look like Persian bows as we now understand them. It is worth noting that in one of Dr Khorasani's manuscripts, Chahar Kham bows are listed as one of the types of Persian bows.

It would be interesting to know what type of bows the Hazaras used since they have both a historical link with the Mongols and Iran.

[mongolianarcher]

Yes it would, considering how culturally, ethnically, and religiously they have been isolated and preserved so to speak for so many years vis-?-vis the local Pashtuns of Afghanistan.

[mongolianarcher]

Also, another thing I noticed is that many Persian bows made today are not nearly as reflexed as the Qajar hornbow on this thread. Is there a reason for this?