Alam; I am not your expert but will keep the conversation going till one arrives. I have several Qing bows.
1.Some very thick cork-like birch bark is often used at the grip. I believe that I have also seen shagreen-green dyed ray skin. There is also cork to be seen.
2.Those chafe guards can be shagreen, or leather or even thick paper dyed green. Often, they will be birch bark with perpendicular pattern.
3.Siyahs may be white shagreen on superior bows or painted variously on others.
4.Diagonally arranged bark on the limbs is common, perpendicular on the grip, parallel on the upper siyah.
5. That tiger-stripe pattern is painted directly on the bark. On others, painted bark flowers,etc are glued over the first layer. Painted paper elements are also glued to the background on some. Shagreen is inlaid into shagreen on first quality items.
Others have more experience. Romain, I am very jealous of this bow. -j-
Manchu bow ?
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jack farrell
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Romain
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Bede
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I can add something to what Jack wrote.
The cork is real cork. There are cork oaks in Korean and the Manchus had a long historical connection with the Koreans.
Polished shark and other fish skins are used above and below the handle. I believe that in their native state they are white and dyed to get the other colours. A bow in my possession has pieces that appear to have been put together like a mosaic. Individual denticals from the skin were dyed different colours to form an image. On my old bow, the coloured scales started to drop out. I assume that they were removed, dyed and replaced. The majority of the skin was dyed a single colour.
On my bow the birch bark covering of the back was applied diagonally. The usual reason for this was to reduce the forming of gaps between the individual strips. My bow was shootable until a few decades ago and never showed any sign of gaps appearing when fully drawn. It should be easy to test the theory by sticking strips of tape on a wooden bow and bending it. A second person could measure the gaps.
As Jack said, many bows had the ears covered in shark skin. On others, the ears were painted.
Stephen is the best person to comment on this because he has probably seen more bows with a better educated eye than any of us.
The cork is real cork. There are cork oaks in Korean and the Manchus had a long historical connection with the Koreans.
Polished shark and other fish skins are used above and below the handle. I believe that in their native state they are white and dyed to get the other colours. A bow in my possession has pieces that appear to have been put together like a mosaic. Individual denticals from the skin were dyed different colours to form an image. On my old bow, the coloured scales started to drop out. I assume that they were removed, dyed and replaced. The majority of the skin was dyed a single colour.
On my bow the birch bark covering of the back was applied diagonally. The usual reason for this was to reduce the forming of gaps between the individual strips. My bow was shootable until a few decades ago and never showed any sign of gaps appearing when fully drawn. It should be easy to test the theory by sticking strips of tape on a wooden bow and bending it. A second person could measure the gaps.
As Jack said, many bows had the ears covered in shark skin. On others, the ears were painted.
Stephen is the best person to comment on this because he has probably seen more bows with a better educated eye than any of us.
Bede
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Alam ed Din, Adnan
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Thank you, Bede, Jack, 
very interesting what you say. The "tigerdesign" on the bark - I never thought of a tiger, but now as you said it - Yes! So shagreen was the novelty
decoration material used.Or even mosaik, by dying the little denticals
individually.(I read on a shagreen page, that the denticals are best dyed from the backside of the skin) Could such a design be the signature of the bowyers workshop?
All my questions have been answered. Bede, you said what I already thought - kork was being used for the grip. I am planning to build a Mandshu bow after I gathered enough information/materials. Jack, did you build one?
There is also decoration on the horn - is this some sort of bone/ivory inlay work or is this design simply painted on the on the horn?
(I repost some pictures of the shagreen section at the grip- from-some pics of bows from the web) Just to look at it again.....
very interesting what you say. The "tigerdesign" on the bark - I never thought of a tiger, but now as you said it - Yes! So shagreen was the novelty
decoration material used.Or even mosaik, by dying the little denticals
individually.(I read on a shagreen page, that the denticals are best dyed from the backside of the skin) Could such a design be the signature of the bowyers workshop?
All my questions have been answered. Bede, you said what I already thought - kork was being used for the grip. I am planning to build a Mandshu bow after I gathered enough information/materials. Jack, did you build one?
There is also decoration on the horn - is this some sort of bone/ivory inlay work or is this design simply painted on the on the horn?
(I repost some pictures of the shagreen section at the grip- from-some pics of bows from the web) Just to look at it again.....
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Alam
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Stephen Selby
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The designs on the arrow-pass (a bat, a coin and a lily) are all lucky symbols (fortune, wealth, refinement) to assure the owner of success in the official examinations. The designs also help the user hold the bow the correct way up: ther coin was always on the upper limb and the lily on the lower. (Sometimes it was a circle (sun) on the upper limb and moon on the lower.)
The grecian key pattern near the arrow pass was done in peach bark. The design is called 'wan nian bu duan tou' (万年不断头) and signifies 'never dying'.
The grecian key pattern near the arrow pass was done in peach bark. The design is called 'wan nian bu duan tou' (万年不断头) and signifies 'never dying'.
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jack farrell
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Alam ed Din, Adnan
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Steven,
Thanks for explaining the meaning of those symbols.
Things are coming more into focus now, which is really great. Difficult to imagine how such an intricate pattern (the grecian like key pattern) could be cut from peach bark - I know nothing about peach bark at all - is there, besides the dark variety of bark, one that has this ivory colouring? Or, maybe I got this all wrong.....?
Jack:
Thanks for posting this pictures.Nice decoration on that bow.
Steven: I would like to ask you another question:
Did the Tibetan community have their own bow design, or did they generally use Mandshu design with somewhat shortened siyahs ? Where those lucky symbols also used by them, or where those Chinese imperical military issues?
Thanks for explaining the meaning of those symbols.
Things are coming more into focus now, which is really great. Difficult to imagine how such an intricate pattern (the grecian like key pattern) could be cut from peach bark - I know nothing about peach bark at all - is there, besides the dark variety of bark, one that has this ivory colouring? Or, maybe I got this all wrong.....?
Jack:
Thanks for posting this pictures.Nice decoration on that bow.
Steven: I would like to ask you another question:
Did the Tibetan community have their own bow design, or did they generally use Mandshu design with somewhat shortened siyahs ? Where those lucky symbols also used by them, or where those Chinese imperical military issues?
Last edited by Alam ed Din, Adnan on Wed Apr 26, 2006 1:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Alam
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jack farrell
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Stephen Selby
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The peach bark was applied as marquetry.
Tibetan archery is divided into northern and southern. Northern bows are similar to Manchu bows, but shorter. And the Tibetans do not favour long siyahs. Southern archery is more along the lines now practised in Bhutan, with simple bamboo bows.
In terms of decoration, often the Tibetans use old Manchu bows and just cut the siyahs down. Occasionally they add their own decoration, with Buddhist lucky symbols. However, they also often follow the Chinese lucky symbols. When shooting, the tie a red or pale blue ribbon on the bow.
Tibetan archery is divided into northern and southern. Northern bows are similar to Manchu bows, but shorter. And the Tibetans do not favour long siyahs. Southern archery is more along the lines now practised in Bhutan, with simple bamboo bows.
In terms of decoration, often the Tibetans use old Manchu bows and just cut the siyahs down. Occasionally they add their own decoration, with Buddhist lucky symbols. However, they also often follow the Chinese lucky symbols. When shooting, the tie a red or pale blue ribbon on the bow.
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Alam ed Din, Adnan
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Greg Yang
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