Enrica Medugno
Senior Sale Coordinator
Lot 265
A lacquered composite bow (chahār kham) with five arrows India, probably Sindh, 18th Century/ 19th Century(6)
22 May 2025, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £6,144 inc. premium
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Oliver White
Head of Department
A lacquered composite bow (chahār kham) with five arrows
India, probably Sindh, 18th Century/ 19th Century
India, probably Sindh, 18th Century/ 19th Century
the bow of curving form with flattened grip, decorated in polychrome lacquer and gilt with floral and foliate decoration with bands of geometric and vegetal designs; four of the arrows with steel tips and lacquered in polychrome and gilt at one end, one with barbed tip
the bow 103.3 cm. long(6)
the bow 103.3 cm. long(6)
Footnotes
Provenance
Private UK collection, acquired in the late 1950s or early 1960s, and thence by descent.
The chahār kham composite bow is of wood, horn and sinew painted in lacquer. The composite bow has little or no 'kick' in the hand on release and has a large power ratio proportionate to its size (Edward McEwen, 'The chahār-kham or "four curved" bow of India', in Elgood (ed.), Islamic Arms and Armour, London, 1979, p. 92). The present lot has ridged sections to the back of the bow, which Edward McEwen notes is a feature always found on the chahār kham, but rarely present in other types of bow (ibid). An Ottoman bow from the same collection is lot 67 in the present sale.