A quiver from the Varqa and Gulshah
For some I've wanted to make the archery equipment as shown in the Varqa and Gulshah manuscript.
I set myself some parameters before proceeding with this project. The first was that the quiver would be made mostly from felt. My reason for doing so was that felt for a nomadic family is a renewable resource whereas using leather would mean killing one of your animals and therefore losing not only the wool/hair but also any future offspring and milk. Not something I could see such a family doing lightly.
Since I didn't have any skills for making felt I decided I needed to go with a commercially available wool felt and fortunately I found a company that could supply me with a 100% wool felt which was 6mm thick (1/4 inch). Using this method however did mean I would need to sew the two halves of a quiver together. To protect that sewing I sewed on a leather strip.
As to the attachment points I determined that they were either two leather teardrops or possibly a single piece of leather which becomes stretched at the belt attachment points. I decide to go with the former for the quiver but I'm thinking of using the latter when I do the bowcase.
Sewing the quiver together wasn't too hard and once I got the rhythm right sewing on the leather pieces was also easy and the technique I used ensured the stitching wasn't exposed.
All in all I enjoyed this and definitely want to learn how to make felt and then make a felt quiver in one piece where the only sewing would be the attachments points.
Lastly speaking of attachment points I still need to determine how this quiver was attached to a belt. In the manuscripts you can see two small straps attaching to the top of the quiver attachment points but I can determine if this was a permanent attachment or if the straps could be hooked and unhooked from either the quiver or belt.
I set myself some parameters before proceeding with this project. The first was that the quiver would be made mostly from felt. My reason for doing so was that felt for a nomadic family is a renewable resource whereas using leather would mean killing one of your animals and therefore losing not only the wool/hair but also any future offspring and milk. Not something I could see such a family doing lightly.
Since I didn't have any skills for making felt I decided I needed to go with a commercially available wool felt and fortunately I found a company that could supply me with a 100% wool felt which was 6mm thick (1/4 inch). Using this method however did mean I would need to sew the two halves of a quiver together. To protect that sewing I sewed on a leather strip.
As to the attachment points I determined that they were either two leather teardrops or possibly a single piece of leather which becomes stretched at the belt attachment points. I decide to go with the former for the quiver but I'm thinking of using the latter when I do the bowcase.
Sewing the quiver together wasn't too hard and once I got the rhythm right sewing on the leather pieces was also easy and the technique I used ensured the stitching wasn't exposed.
All in all I enjoyed this and definitely want to learn how to make felt and then make a felt quiver in one piece where the only sewing would be the attachments points.
Lastly speaking of attachment points I still need to determine how this quiver was attached to a belt. In the manuscripts you can see two small straps attaching to the top of the quiver attachment points but I can determine if this was a permanent attachment or if the straps could be hooked and unhooked from either the quiver or belt.
Here are some additional images of the making process.
I think some of your assumptions might be wrong in the case of materials and construction. Modern Mongolian practices shows that the hide is always preserved in the normal slaughtering of an animal for food since nomads and subsistence farmers cannot afford to waste anything. The main source of leather for nomads outside their herds was the hunt. Gazelles and other ruminants were used as were predatory animals such as the ubiquitous leopard. It must be admitted that the failure of the survival of felt quivers is not an argument against their existence, but the argument that a domestic animal would have to be killed to provide the leather also is flawed since organised hunts were part of the military culture of the nomads. Hunting is documented as providing a substantial part of the economy.
There is also probably an error in assuming the Warka wa Gulshah is depicting simple nomads. The original story is about Arab tribes which these horsemen clearly do not represent. The equipment is high status Turko-Iranian weaponry of about the same date as the paintings. The gilding on the parts of the quiver and bow case where one would expect metal fittings on a leather quiver seems to point to the status of the warriors and the materials of the original quivers.
Later nomad quivers from poorer areas are made of a wooden frame with thin leather nailed and sewn to it. Gazelle and goat hide are well suited to this construction. Wood was available to steppe nomads otherwise they would have had no ger frames, saddles, bows and arrows.More recent Tibetan quivers show this construction. Closed quivers were often made with wooden frameworks and birch bark in place of leather. There are some fragmentary quivers from tombs that may be birch bark-constructed open quivers (though they could be the detached lower part of a closed quiver). The gilded area on the paintings falls where archaeology would lead one to expect a bone or wooden piece sewn into the leading edge of the quiver to provide a place to put slots for the straps and also to stiffen the edge.
Felt construction was quite well developed and used moulding techniques that are still alive. I have a pair of Mongolian boot liners made of moulded felt, 15 mm thick. Each one is a single piece moulded around a foot and calf last to produce a seamless boot shaped object. You could make a strong quiver this way, but it would be bulkier and heavier than the wood frame and leather types.
There is also probably an error in assuming the Warka wa Gulshah is depicting simple nomads. The original story is about Arab tribes which these horsemen clearly do not represent. The equipment is high status Turko-Iranian weaponry of about the same date as the paintings. The gilding on the parts of the quiver and bow case where one would expect metal fittings on a leather quiver seems to point to the status of the warriors and the materials of the original quivers.
Later nomad quivers from poorer areas are made of a wooden frame with thin leather nailed and sewn to it. Gazelle and goat hide are well suited to this construction. Wood was available to steppe nomads otherwise they would have had no ger frames, saddles, bows and arrows.More recent Tibetan quivers show this construction. Closed quivers were often made with wooden frameworks and birch bark in place of leather. There are some fragmentary quivers from tombs that may be birch bark-constructed open quivers (though they could be the detached lower part of a closed quiver). The gilded area on the paintings falls where archaeology would lead one to expect a bone or wooden piece sewn into the leading edge of the quiver to provide a place to put slots for the straps and also to stiffen the edge.
Felt construction was quite well developed and used moulding techniques that are still alive. I have a pair of Mongolian boot liners made of moulded felt, 15 mm thick. Each one is a single piece moulded around a foot and calf last to produce a seamless boot shaped object. You could make a strong quiver this way, but it would be bulkier and heavier than the wood frame and leather types.