Horn bow shooting with traditional costume

Yokhua,

THANKS for posting that great video!

J.

Sorry about this silly question, but what kind of bow is it you are shooting? I assume it is a chinese bow, but from whitch part of china and period?
Grateful for answers.

It is a "Tartar" like horn bow I built. Actually i don't aggree the way of sorting bow designs by regions. I have seen a "Turkish bow" carried by a Persian prince in a Persian miniature. A Indian prince carried a "Tartar bow" on an old painting.
This so call "Tartar bow" design was found in the old paintings through Trukey, Persia, India, China to Korea around the same period...
If you want me to defind this bow, I'll say it is a bow design seen in Ming dynasty.

Thanks a loth for the answer. Realy interesting that the "tartar" design was used in so may cultures and countries.

Yokhua is right about the different designs turning up in art from different cultures. I think it might be similar to people today buying a foreign car or drinking an imported wine. People who knew about bows and had the opportunity probably tried out and bought or captured bows from other cultures. In Mogul India, Turkish, Persian and Tatar people entered the imperial service and brought with them weapons from their own cultures.

the real chinese close here, the traditional chinese is a nation we are call it han , and our nation name same start at han dynasty, that close is china han dynasty, enjoy the picture:

http://image.baidu.com/i?tn=baiduimage& ... A%BA%B7%FE

chinese motherland still has hold traditional close, a small islets call taiwan with the eyes so superficial, 100% wrong they are , Just full of gas,

here is all dynasty and nation chinese clothes video
http://you.video.sina.com.cn/b/5834515-1268623727.html

Lovely cloth. But I got just one problem with it, Did not the men were cloth? I did just see ladies??

Redhorse wrote:

Lovely cloth. But I got just one problem with it, Did not the men were cloth? I did just see ladies??

Here are some illustrations showing typical Ming dynasty clothing:

http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kz=291389877

it's here,an authentic wall painting 1,000 years ago...not the fragment of modern imagination..

Yokhua; Is there a story that goes with this picture? I do not see any arrows. Lastly, I always wondered how one would insert arrows into one of these quivers. Thanks, Jack.

Jack,

The main purpose of the design seems to have been to keep arrows dry. There is sometimes argument about whether the arrows were inserted point-up or point-down. I have seen contemporary depictions of both.

The painting is from Dunhuang (I think) and may show foreign people paying tribute. They may have disarmed to show respect (hence no weapons visible.)

S

Their bows are unstrung, putted on the left side in bow quivers. can see one wraped in bow cover and the other one with no bow cover.

I have copies of these paintings. The warriors have swords and are not unarmed. Despite the fact that there are some artistic representations of arrows point down in these quivers they are uncommon. In archaeological remains the arrows points are in the mouth of the quivers.

What is very interesting is that the bows are shorter in these paintings than other paintings of the same date. These paintings are from the tomb of Li Xien (from the year 771). The particular painting we are discussing is restored. The lack of arrow points in the mouths of the quivers is probably an accident of the restoration. The quivers in the unrestored hunting scenes are not clear around the mouths.

I know it is a weak argument because it is subjective, but I think the bows in this painting are more reflexed than the ones in the hunting scene from the same tomb. The bow cases are soft animal skin and the ones in the hunting scene show a slit on the underside where the bow can be withdrawn. Some bow tips are visible and they are straight with a nock on the back, the same as in other Tang representations.

This gentleman, in my own collection, is a late Tang pottery figure. According to the artistic conventions of the time, he is a 'non-Chinese' Central Asian figure. He has a closed quiver on the right side of his horse. The cover on his bow is in the shape and image of a fish - another convention of the time.

I love those horse foot, they knew how the foot should be. Today it can be difficult to find a good foot.

Yeah. Wish I could get my horse to move like that. :wink: