Turkish bow, quiver, arrows 17th century, Museum N?rnberg

JJ · Post by JJ » Thu Jan 16, 2014 12:08 pm

I just thought I?d share some photos that I made a while ago in N?rnberg of an outstanding Turkish bow with a beautiful decoration and a quiver and arrows. They seem to have belonged to a citizen of N?rnberg who collected them in the 17th century.

Just recently i discovered interesting details on the siyahs who appear to be laminated in a way I?ve never seen before. Moreover there is a strange engraving in form of a snake on it. I?m curious if some other Atarn members can say somsting about it.

JJ

Markus · Post by **Markus** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 12:49 pm

Most beautiful, thanks for sharing. It seems to be two slanted lines going through the snake toward the string notch, is that what you mean with laminations? Markus.

Kviljo · Post by **Kviljo** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 2:50 pm

Pretty bow - thanks for sharing

The same type of snake-like decoration can be seen on this bow, here:

JJ · Post by JJ » Thu Jan 16, 2014 4:27 pm

Markus, yes that?s what I think, too. Sort of a diagonal sandwiching.

Kviljo, that seems to be the same ornament

Uli · Post by **Uli** » Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:34 pm

IMHO the pic by Kviljo shows the bow
with inscription "Pijale" AD 1586/87
written on both tips in persian language in arabic script
which is thought to be a bowyer's branding
drawback: the ornaments may be made from a different craftsman than the bow

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 3:12 am

The "snake" is a stylised cloud. The design was originally Chinese, but became very popular in Ottoman Turkey and Iran.

There was a famous Turkish commander called Piyale Pasha. You can see his details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piyale_Pasha

However, it is unlikely to be his if the date is correct.

I had a look at the laminations and they correspond closely to where the tunc would sit on a braced bow. Could they be a combination of pressure marks and staining? In Central European collections, it is not unusual for bows to be left strung for decades. It would be most unsafe to put a glue line where it would correspond with the line of force when the string knot hits the belly of the bow. Adam would know if that is the line that nocks shear off along. Perhaps it is a repair if it is a real glue line.

Arry · Post by **Arry** » Fri Jan 17, 2014 4:28 pm

Many thanks for sharing! Very interesting.
My goodness, how thin and pronounced the ridge of the grip is.