Bow from Samarkand

[arsilan]

I think that ıts hybrid. İran and Tartar features are together on this bow. I m very glad to see it. Its a miracle for me.Thanks Jack.

[Metin Ates]

Thanks for your swift critical!
"arsilan"s name is Dr. Aksoy and he is the one of our bowmakers.

arsilan: Where did you take this "persian" (Iranian) bow's picture? In Turkey?

[Metin Ates]

All ordinary Asian composite bows made from sinew, wood, horn and glue you know. But differences have shown in its technique & forms and have shaped with interactions between trends and nations.

Belowed picture taken from Istanbul Topkapi Palace Museum, Arms & Armour section.

[Jos?Dom]

Jack, very interesting story. I wonder what was the problem with them...we'll never know...

[arsilan]

I took the pictures of Iran bow from a tomb. This tomb is in a village near Zile Tokat Turkey. Local people isnt know what is it this material. They belive that bow belonges a local hero's costa bones. It was funny. But now they learned from me. My friend Hilmi is studying about this bows. Hilmi is historian. And he has some thesis about bow and how its been in this tomb. He said that Zile is in border of İran and Turkey during 16. century.

[jack farrell]

If you do a search on Khwarezm, (or maybe more correctly Khorezm) the modern state where this bow was found, you will see that it has a long history as an important country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khwarezm

So maybe this bow is a typical bow of Khorezm. But since there is just one now documented, how could we say?

My impressions about the bow, first is that it is very strong. Secondly the bow is bent at the grip in the manner of Tatar bows. Next, the grip is very short and the limbs go abruptly to the full dimension. The tips do indeed appear like Iranian, and short.

This bow may have been decorated at one time, there is little of value to be seen in museums in Central Asia which is not highly decorated. Now there remains only the smallest traces of ancient yellow and black paint, maybe background colors.

There are much better preserved bows in museums from the 14th C onward. I also wonder about the age. -j-

[PjSingh]

This is a beaytiful bow,couldn't help but be reminded of a few things,like the word kaman,it is still the general word used for bows in India,not to mention the sack of Delhi by Temur when he took all the craftsmen and artisans as slaves back to Samarkand.Iwas surprised that this bow did not have more Indian influences if it was made in Samarkand?guess we'll never know.

[Stephen Selby]

My guess: 18th century and not earlier.

It's a difficult call. But I have got to see bows from 18, 17, 16... 800BC. Even in the most favourable conditions, you start to see a degeneration of the materials back before the start of the 18th Century. If they are too dry, they degenerate. If they're too damp the degenerate. Use and human handling leave a layer of dirt that gives them a certain 'patina', and when handling stops and storage/display starts, you can see that patina change. Because the tips of bows are heavily handled during stringing, they are a good place to start looking at these changes. Jack's photos are quite clear.

[Adam Karpowicz]

The grip looks to me like the typical Persian (Iranian) in size and shape with the limbs much wider in proportion. The bow is indeed a little more reflexed at the grip than many other such bows, but still within normal. The Tatar bows have very distinct reflex in the grip itself, much greater than in the arms (sal sections) and the grips are basically round like in the Korean bows.

I would rather see the kasan (ridged) sections to be a little more "Tatar". They seem to be round with no distinct bend at the kasan eye (the transition betw. the sal and kasan) - more like the Tatar style. I would expect such kasan to be less flexible in use.

But of course the tips are typically Persian or Mughal.

Adam

[Shaybaq]

I have looked at this discussion from my computer at home, 2 in the library and one in the international student center. THERE ARE NO PICTURES!

How can I see the pictures?

[M Hardman]

Become a member of the forum

[Tamr The Nomad]

Well I guess signing in is what did it.

Shaybaq