Try to imagine tortoises and lizards, horses and elephants in the company
of prehistoric animals like the mammoth. Then think of precious materials
like ivory, mother of pearl and silver melted down and interwoven with
some valuable woods such as ebony, pernambuco or snakewood. It is not a
zoological garden or a Natural History Museum that we are speaking about
but the marvellous microcosm to be found within a simple bow for string
instruments. This is our world, the world of bow making.