Oldest findings of stringbridges
Is it anyone of you, brothers in bows, that would tell me when the stringbridge first came into use. Where did it happen and is there perhaps reports on the findings. I assume that stringbridges has been in use for quite some time, but it is difficult for me to find the evidence...
Tom
Tom
I think they may have been rather recent. But remember that the number of complete historic bows that we have to study is very small. (I have an article in the Spring 2007 'Primitive Archer' on this subject, by the way.)
Bridges go together with the concept of having the siyahs significantly forward of the line of the string. Except for providing assistance with drawing very heavy bows, that is not a great way to build bows. Most early cultures just made the whole bow structure smaller and lighter.
The earliest bows that I have studied date from around 800 BCE. They do not have bridges; but the string did lie in a groove on the back of the limb near the tip.
Bridges go together with the concept of having the siyahs significantly forward of the line of the string. Except for providing assistance with drawing very heavy bows, that is not a great way to build bows. Most early cultures just made the whole bow structure smaller and lighter.
The earliest bows that I have studied date from around 800 BCE. They do not have bridges; but the string did lie in a groove on the back of the limb near the tip.
thank you very much!
I agree with Stephen. String bridges are a late development associated with bows that have forward pointing ears when braced. Not all bows with recurved ears had string bridges. The earliest reference is as I mentioned before, but they appear in Middle Eastern and Chinese art after that date. In Ming paintings with one exception, they are similar to the Persian ones. After the beginning of the Qing they develop the "cushion" shape in China.
I have seen a Chinese bow that is described as "a bow and arrows from the Tang dynasty unearthed from the Gaochang area" that has string bridges. It might be the earliest example we have of a Chinese bow with "cushion" shaped string bridges. It is located in the Military Museum in Beijing.
Although much of the museum's information is incomplete and sometimes even unreliable (biased or not well researched), you won't expect them to make a story on a bow find. It has a wonderful collection of arrows on which I wrote a little bit on this forum:
http://forum.grtc.org/viewtopic.php?t=425
It's construction reminds me of Turkish bows a lot...
www.mandarinmansion.com/reference/tangbow1.JPG
www.mandarinmansion.com/reference/tangbow2.JPG
-Peter
Although much of the museum's information is incomplete and sometimes even unreliable (biased or not well researched), you won't expect them to make a story on a bow find. It has a wonderful collection of arrows on which I wrote a little bit on this forum:
http://forum.grtc.org/viewtopic.php?t=425
It's construction reminds me of Turkish bows a lot...
www.mandarinmansion.com/reference/tangbow1.JPG
www.mandarinmansion.com/reference/tangbow2.JPG
-Peter
Peter,
I could view the first link, but the other two have come up "File not found". I would be very interested to see the pictures of this bow.
I could view the first link, but the other two have come up "File not found". I would be very interested to see the pictures of this bow.
I think I fixed the problem, they should work now.
-Peter
-Peter
Thanks. I can see the pictures now. They look like a type of bow collected in Turkestan by Henry Moser in the 19th century. I think the collection is still in the Bernisches Historisches Museum. The catalogue is Orientalische Sammlung Henri Moser-Charlottenfels by Rudolf Zeller and Ernst F. Rohrer, Bern 1955. (pp. 374-381)
These bows are similar to Indo-Persian bows with the addition of wooden string bridges. I think the ones in Moser are generally larger than the same style bows in India. I wonder how big the bows you saw were.
If they are early, I would be surprised because they have several late features including the standard Middle Eastern grip and a normal Indian style string.
These bows are similar to Indo-Persian bows with the addition of wooden string bridges. I think the ones in Moser are generally larger than the same style bows in India. I wonder how big the bows you saw were.
If they are early, I would be surprised because they have several late features including the standard Middle Eastern grip and a normal Indian style string.
Thanks for your observations!
The bow wasn't very big, perhaps just a bit bigger than a standard Turkish bow.
It might well be another example of the museum's bad or incorrect information. They also had a rack on which the "18 traditional weapons" were displayed. What did and did not belong to these 18 weapons is highly disputed to begin with, but the rack also contained two qiang (spears) and two yanyuedao (fauchards) so these weapons were represented double while the total number was still 18.
A saber by emperor Qianlong's own design lacks any description, typical Qing military meizhenjian (plum needle arrows) are fitted with fireworks and presented as "fire arrows" shot from a reproduction device, etc, etc.
A very nice imperial arrow with a gold damascened pi arrowhead and plant and kui designs between the feathers (exactly according to Qianlong era regulations!) is one of their main archery treasures.. Again, no description at all so the curator (if there even is any) probably doesn't know what it is.
-Peter
The bow wasn't very big, perhaps just a bit bigger than a standard Turkish bow.
It might well be another example of the museum's bad or incorrect information. They also had a rack on which the "18 traditional weapons" were displayed. What did and did not belong to these 18 weapons is highly disputed to begin with, but the rack also contained two qiang (spears) and two yanyuedao (fauchards) so these weapons were represented double while the total number was still 18.
A saber by emperor Qianlong's own design lacks any description, typical Qing military meizhenjian (plum needle arrows) are fitted with fireworks and presented as "fire arrows" shot from a reproduction device, etc, etc.
A very nice imperial arrow with a gold damascened pi arrowhead and plant and kui designs between the feathers (exactly according to Qianlong era regulations!) is one of their main archery treasures.. Again, no description at all so the curator (if there even is any) probably doesn't know what it is.
-Peter