![]() Badai was honored for breaking enemy lines single handedly. Painting held in the Asian Art Museum of Berlin. Note the three slits in the front and the three pockets on the back that were common for this era. The quiver represents the standard quiver model in use in the mid 18th century, the height of the Qing's military power. Otherwise it exactly follows the patterns of the other examples in various museum and private collections. This particular example was once a maroon red velvet, a color I had not seen before. Usually these come only in red or black, worn in different occasions. Palace Museum, Beijing.Ī quiver belonging to the imperial guard of the early 19th century. Notice the felt inner cushions and the three soft pockets on the right. He wore this set while performing the tri-annual Grand Review of the Troops in Beijing. There are almost always three such pockets, although I've seen rare examples with two or up to four pockets.Ī quiver that belonged to the Qianlong emperor. The pockets are made so they can expand to hold some of the many special arrows the Manchus had with larger heads such as whistling arrows, blunts, or other specialized arrows. Many antique quivers have lost these back pockets but the holes where the hinges were can still be seen. Manchu quivers always have a number of flexible pockets attached to their backs with two or three metal hinges. ![]() On the front are three stylized longevity symbols. Once covered with black velvet, most of that is gone now. Quiver fittings can be made of simple brass sheet or forged iron, to cast brass or pierced iron work which was gilt for the higher ranks.Ī quiver belonging to the imperial guard of the late 19th century. Quivers of the first half of the Qing would also often have three slits cut in the front for extra arrows or otherwise have a double front, the outer part covering the bottom half of the from of the quiver, to put at least two extra arrows in. Some of these are threaded, with wing nuts, to squeeze the arrows tightly in place. The arrows are held in place between thick fabric, often wool, and one or two fasteners that go through the top of the quiver to tighten the whole. The leather may or may not be covered with fabric, such as velvet. It is typically made with a wooden base with leather or rawhide folded around it. The Chinese term for this type of quiver is 撒袋 (sā dài) which means "spreading bag", named after the manner in which the quiver spreads the arrows out. The Manchu quiver is called jebele in Manchu, which simply means "right hand" or "right hand side", indicating just how deeply archery was engrained in their culture. It reproduces a 1759 manuscript commissioned by the Qianlong emperor (ruled 1736-1796), and represents the style of that period. However, the general construction of bow cases and quiver of the Qing is the same, difference is mostly in materials and decoration.Īn archery set for the regular soldier from a 1899 edition of the Da Qing Huidian Tu or "Illustrated Statutes of the Great Qing". As a result, I've been able to examine and photograph far more bow cases and quivers of high ranked Qing officers, mainly the imperial guard, than I have of soldiers. Although some elements like the material of fittings for certain ranks were more or less stipulated by regulation, we see a great variety of materials, styles, and decorative patterns used, reflecting the personal tastes of soldiers who were often given a monthly fee in silver to purchase and maintain their own equipment.Īmong antiques, the higher grade bow cases and quivers are now rather over-represented because those were the ones that were taken from China as war trophies or purchased by early collectors, while most of the simpler equipment made for soldiers was lost over time because hardly anybody thought about keeping them for later generations. The open quivers used by the Qing army are rather short in relation to the arrows, leaving most of the shafts of the arrows exposed and spread out like a fan, so they can easily be picked out one by one. The bow case of the Qing dynasty is a cloth or leather "holster" that covers only the bottom half of the bow, leaving the grip exposed so it could be drawn out efficiently. There was quite some overlap in the overall style of bow cases and quivers from Korea to the far East, all the way to the Ottoman empire to the West, but the sizes, material and decorative patterns differed from culture to culture. Like most Asian armies, the archers of the Qing suspended their bow case and quiver from a belt that also carried their saber. ![]()
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