Turkish bow makers mark
I recently purchased an antique Turkish bow at auction (mislabelled as in the catalogue as Indian).
It appears to be signed but not dated.
Does anyone have any skills at reading the bowyer's signature on these bows?
I have tried to adjust the colours and contrast in a close up to show as much detail as possible:
Turkish Bow 1.jpg
It has lost one tip, and has some surface loss, but you can still see most of the original decoration through the darkened varnish. It has dark red limbs with gold detailing, black edges and a brighter red grip with gold decoration.It appears to be signed but not dated.
Does anyone have any skills at reading the bowyer's signature on these bows?
I have tried to adjust the colours and contrast in a close up to show as much detail as possible:
Turkish Bow 2.jpg
I believe the characters at the right are Usta (master). I would be grateful if anyone can make an educated guess as to what the name is as it might help with dating.I'm not sure at all, but my best guess is 3mal wafiy (work of the reliable/faithful)
Amarutu,
Thanks for the reply.
I had compared the signature to the examples in the back of Türk Okçulugu by Ünsal Yücel (in Turkish which I can't read, but I can look at the pictures and read the list of bowyers). There were no exact matches but the first word matches the majority of signatures as Usta "master" (rather than apprentice bowyer), the second word would be the name.
I can't read Arabic, let alone Turkish Arabic, but from comparing letter forms I had guessed that the name ended in ye.
Türk Okçulugu contains a list of the bow masters - Ali, Çelebi, Efendi, Musli, Kavsi, Salih, Sofi and Veli are the shorter names ending in an i or y sound. None of these appear to match.
The signature appears very short, i wonder if the name was abbreviated or stylised in some manner.
Thanks for the reply.
I had compared the signature to the examples in the back of Türk Okçulugu by Ünsal Yücel (in Turkish which I can't read, but I can look at the pictures and read the list of bowyers). There were no exact matches but the first word matches the majority of signatures as Usta "master" (rather than apprentice bowyer), the second word would be the name.
I can't read Arabic, let alone Turkish Arabic, but from comparing letter forms I had guessed that the name ended in ye.
Türk Okçulugu contains a list of the bow masters - Ali, Çelebi, Efendi, Musli, Kavsi, Salih, Sofi and Veli are the shorter names ending in an i or y sound. None of these appear to match.
The signature appears very short, i wonder if the name was abbreviated or stylised in some manner.
No word in the shown signature means master. full stop.
Is there a bowyer named "wanan" listed?
Hence the middle consonant is missing, but a single diacritical point is left... this would be a possible way to read it. But this name seems not very likely because it means sth like sluggishness.
"waghan" would be the the third and last possibility. This name would mean sth like clamor, tumult and uproar... Still an unlikely name for my understanding.
Don't be too strict about the "iy" ending. the ى/ي written there is a weak consonant allowing some flexibility (still within rules).
Is there a bowyer named "wanan" listed?
Hence the middle consonant is missing, but a single diacritical point is left... this would be a possible way to read it. But this name seems not very likely because it means sth like sluggishness.
"waghan" would be the the third and last possibility. This name would mean sth like clamor, tumult and uproar... Still an unlikely name for my understanding.
Don't be too strict about the "iy" ending. the ى/ي written there is a weak consonant allowing some flexibility (still within rules).
Amarutu
I agree that the characters at the right bear no relation to the word Usta transliterated into Arabic. I am just going by the example signatures in the back of Türk Okçulugu, where every name listed with Usta appears to start the same way.
For example:
The modern and Ottoman Turkish alphabets do not include a W. The Ottoman Turkish alphabet seems to use the و character for v, o, ö, u and ü.
The only bowyer starting with V is Veli.
There are Oruç, Osman, Ömer for O.
The only U us Üryânizâde.
I suspect that the list of bowyers in the book is incomplete, as it may have been generated mostly from examining surviving bows rather than documentary evidence. (It seems to be a quite short list to provide an empire with bows for several centuries).
I agree that the characters at the right bear no relation to the word Usta transliterated into Arabic. I am just going by the example signatures in the back of Türk Okçulugu, where every name listed with Usta appears to start the same way.
For example:
Usta Mustafa Kavsi.jpg
I have fed Usta into an online Turkish/English translator and it gives master, which makes sense from the way it is used in the book.The modern and Ottoman Turkish alphabets do not include a W. The Ottoman Turkish alphabet seems to use the و character for v, o, ö, u and ü.
The only bowyer starting with V is Veli.
There are Oruç, Osman, Ömer for O.
The only U us Üryânizâde.
I suspect that the list of bowyers in the book is incomplete, as it may have been generated mostly from examining surviving bows rather than documentary evidence. (It seems to be a quite short list to provide an empire with bows for several centuries).
Andrew,
the name Wafiy is Vafî in modern Turkish. And if it is not in the list of this book, maybe it can be found in other signatures somewhere else. The conclusion of the lists incompleteness seems plausible for me, too.
But ... the middle consonant is (still) merely gone. On a third look at the signature I start to think Veli is a possibility.
The beginning and end of each letter has a little more paint remaining. Maybe as a result of the use of a brush for the signature. Therefore I think, what I initially read as a diacritical point is the start of the L-letter with the rest vanished. Sadly there are no examples of Veli's signature in Türk Okculugu... or I just overread it... anyway.
Maybe dating it as a bow of Veli with adding the note it could be of a different Masters Workshop (Vafî), due to the preservation status of the signature.
the name Wafiy is Vafî in modern Turkish. And if it is not in the list of this book, maybe it can be found in other signatures somewhere else. The conclusion of the lists incompleteness seems plausible for me, too.
But ... the middle consonant is (still) merely gone. On a third look at the signature I start to think Veli is a possibility.
The beginning and end of each letter has a little more paint remaining. Maybe as a result of the use of a brush for the signature. Therefore I think, what I initially read as a diacritical point is the start of the L-letter with the rest vanished. Sadly there are no examples of Veli's signature in Türk Okculugu... or I just overread it... anyway.
Maybe dating it as a bow of Veli with adding the note it could be of a different Masters Workshop (Vafî), due to the preservation status of the signature.
Amarutu
Thanks for your help.
Thanks for your help.
You are welcome, Andrew Hall.
I looked through the signatures in Yücel's book and the only title used in in the case of a signature was that of Sultan (سلطان) for Bayezid. Usta, which originates from the Arab word does not start with a vowel in Ottoman Turkish. It is written استاد starting with an alif to indicate a following vowel. In the bows I have seen and the photographs of signatures in Yücel's book the word Usta or Ustad does not occur. What is clear that even people with double names dropped one of them, usually the first, to fit into the limited space. Another thing is that when both names are present, their position is often unrelated to their order in speach, particularly when one is stacked on top of another. Mehmed Hüseyin is often written with the Hüseyin on top of the Mehmed. Also sometimes the diacritical marks like the two dots of the letter "y" in Yusuf may move to get out of the way of the tail of the letter "l" in amal.
Vêli is a possibility, representing the name written as والی and also can be a title from the Persian for governor. Amal, عمل, is a usual inclusion meaning in this context "the work of ...".
Osman (Uthman) is spelled with an ain as the first letter, عثمن. Ömer (Umar) is likewise spelled with an ain, عمر.The only bowyer in Yücel's biographical list that starts with the letter vav is Vêli. He was active from 1767-1783. Various persons with ولید as part of the name are mentioned in the lists of bowyers from various centuries. Valid or Waleed is a common component of dual names like Walid Ali. Looking at the second letter of the name, it could be the tail of the "y" if the "l" was stacked on top of it as is often done in handwriting.
Examination with UV light may reveal traces of the glue that underlay the gold leaf. I have not had success with this technique, possibly because gold paint was used rather than gold leaf being applied over an inscription laid out in glue.
Vêli is a possibility, representing the name written as والی and also can be a title from the Persian for governor. Amal, عمل, is a usual inclusion meaning in this context "the work of ...".
Osman (Uthman) is spelled with an ain as the first letter, عثمن. Ömer (Umar) is likewise spelled with an ain, عمر.The only bowyer in Yücel's biographical list that starts with the letter vav is Vêli. He was active from 1767-1783. Various persons with ولید as part of the name are mentioned in the lists of bowyers from various centuries. Valid or Waleed is a common component of dual names like Walid Ali. Looking at the second letter of the name, it could be the tail of the "y" if the "l" was stacked on top of it as is often done in handwriting.
Examination with UV light may reveal traces of the glue that underlay the gold leaf. I have not had success with this technique, possibly because gold paint was used rather than gold leaf being applied over an inscription laid out in glue.
Are you really sure about the long alif after the waw? If I remember correctly the name "Veli" is without it, but the title for the governor is written like you wrote it.Bede wrote: ↑Wed Jun 05, 2019 7:21 am
Vêli is a possibility, representing the name written as والی and also can be a title from the Persian for governor.
It looks like what is written is عمل ولي pronounced amal wali which means the work of Veli.
ولي could be the first part of two names. An example of such names is ولي الرحمن pronounced waliyorrahman.
ولي could be the first part of two names. An example of such names is ولي الرحمن pronounced waliyorrahman.
It appears that I had a pattern matching failure when looking through Türk Okçulugu as virtually every name listed starting with Usta had عمل at the start. I had incorrectly assumed it meant Usta. Sorry for any confusion this has caused.
I don't think a UV light would help as the underlying finish is missing in most of the gaps in the gold. I don't think any letters are missing to the left of the existing signature.
Thanks for the further information.
I don't think a UV light would help as the underlying finish is missing in most of the gaps in the gold. I don't think any letters are missing to the left of the existing signature.
Thanks for the further information.