BOW - Aga Khan Museum
Aga Khan Development Network
 
The Aga Khan Museum: Wood and Lacquer - Zand or Qajar, 18th-19th century  Place your mouse over the image
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Classification
Wood and Lacquer

Object name
Bow

Geography
Iran

Period
Zand or Qajar, 18th-19th century

Dynasty
Zand and Qajar

Materials and technique
Wood, painted and varnished

Dimensions
length 92 cm

Accession number
AKM00641

Description

The archer’s bow was a symbol of kingship as well as a tool of the hunt. This elaborate lacquer bow has been painted and covered by a clear sandarac-based varnish that protects the painting and imparts luminescence. Persian literary sources from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries refer to the varnish as rawghan-i kaman, or bow gloss. This reference, coupled with the fascinating fact that the Timurid Sultan Husayn’s keeper of books (kitabdar) and manager of manuscript production Mirak Naqqash (d. after 1507) produced bows and came from a family of Herati bow-makers, has led Stanley to suggest that the earliest lacquer book covers may have been produced by him using bow gloss (Stanley in Thompson and Canby 2003, p. 189).

Other similar artefacts

21 pieces found

BEAM-WITH-QURANIC-INSCRIPTIONPOLYCHROME-BEAMBEAM-WITH-QURANIC-INSCRIPTIONSCRIBES-CABINETPANEL-WITH-VERSES-BY-HAFIZBEGGARS-BOWL-KASHKULPEN-BOXTAMBURA-OR-TAMPURABEAM-WITH-QURANIC-INSCRIPTIONPOLYCHROME-DOORSDOORS-WITH-GEOMETRIC-AND-FLORAL-MOTIVESCORBELSCORBELSBeamBEAMBEAMTRIANGULAR-CEILING-PANEL-WITH-INTERLACING-GEOMETRIC-DESIGNSBeamRababTambourines-Daff-and-Naqqar-DrumsViolin-small-lutes-and-Rabab-or-Rewap