Tobolsk Reserve Museum of History and Architecture: Introducing a Seventeenth/Mid-Eighteenth-Century Quiver

Introduction. The paper examines a richly decorated leather quiver (ВО-73) housed at Tobolsk Reserve Museum of History and Architecture. This quiver has never been subject to scholarly research. Goals. The study aims to introduce the artefact into scientific circulation, date it, and clarify its cultural attribution. Results. The article reveals the quiver arrived in Tobolsk Governorate Museum in 1890 to mid-1891. Typologically, such quivers cluster with a wide range of Central Asian quivers dating to the mid-16th through mid-19th centuries CE, but differ from other Mongolian and South Siberian quivers on a number of construction and ornamental details, such as a high pointed back, massive upper ‘eye’ extended far forward, and absence of decorative metal plates on the outer side of the quiver (except for belt buckles and rivets on the edges). All quivers of this type known to date come from Southern Siberia, Southeast Kazakhstan, and Tibet, i.e. the regions invaded by Western Mongols — Oirats (Dzungars, Khoshuts, Dorbets, etc.) — in the 17th to mid-18th centuries. And the period when quivers of this type were used coincides with that of the Oirat domination across the aforementioned territories, which makes it possible to view such quivers as Oirat-type ones. Quivers produced by Tibetan craftsmen could be distinguished within this type due to Tibetan ornamental patterns, the latter quivers be referred to as Oirat-Tibetan ones. Oirat-type quivers may have emerged in the mid-16th to early 17th centuries across Western Mongolia, Southern Siberia, Southeast and East Kazakhstan. Quivers of this type could have arrived in Tibet with troops of Güshi Khan and his allies in the late 1630s, and are far less likely to have emerged in Tibet to be further disseminated by Oirats towards Southern Siberia and Southeast Kazakhstan. The quiver from Tobolsk Reserve Museum of History and Architecture is distinguished by mounting plates made (or ornamented) by a craftsman that tended to follow the Moslem cultural tradition. Conclusions. Our analysis of the quiver’s decorative elements and ornamental patterns suggests that the artefact was produced by an Oirat or Tibetan craftsman — to be later ornated by a Moslem jeweler. The quiver may have also been completely produced by a Central Asian craftsman in the Oirat style. Anyway, the customer was definitely a well-to-do Chakar (West Siberian) Kalmyk or Dzungar warrior. So, it was manufactured during the existence of Siberian and Central Asian Oirat states — in the 17th to mid-18th centuries. The quiver could have been delivered to Western Siberia as an item of trade, a diplomatic gift or a trophy of war. 

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