Rare Singhalese Lacquered Bow from Ceylon / Sri Lanka

 A beautiful and very rare Singhalese bow from Sri Lanka/ Ceylon, the entire shaft wholly lacquered in bright stunning designs, in black green, yellow and orange. This is a high status piece from the quality of the ornamentation, but is a fully functional and working self-bow. The shaft is wooden, the decorations take the form of panels of interwoven tendrils, amongst which there are friezes of birds amid tress, and stars. Some of the bright colours have faded to areas where it looks as if sides of the bow have been exposed to the sun, but the decoration is no less beautiful to these parts. Because the bow would have been bent towards the tips when firing this is the area where there is some loss to the lacquerwork, from repeated use the limbs have some flaking to the painted surfaces.   kastane piha kaetta sinhalese sword singhalese sword indo persian indian tamil madras