4125 – African Amulet
- Physical description:
- An amulet consisting of a charm bag made from light-coloured leather (or some similar kind of animal hide) with an attachment that resembles a kind of padlock. That is, there is a folded piece of what seems to be snake skin, attached to a small padlock-shaped piece of metal, and through a hole in this piece of metal there is a loop of metal, which in turn goes through a metal disk. The loop of metal ends in a sharp pin that goes right through the charm bag.
- Museum classification:
- Spells and Charms
- Size:
- 60 x 62 x 20
- Information:
Part of a collection of objects that belonged to an African Magical Practitioner.
The seller associated these objects with the Dogon people of Mali, but magic of this kind is common throughout West Africa. And, indeed, the Museum has a similar charm bag from Sudan, considerably further east than Mali (MWM 1970). (See Toby Green's book 'Meeting the Invisible Man' about his exploration of magic in West Africa.)
The contents of charm bags of this kind (often called a taweez) usually include a prayer or quotation from the Qur'an.
See also MWM 1707 and 2398.
- Resource:
- Object
- Materials:
- Leather, snake skin, metal (iron)
- Copyright ownership:
- MWM
Part of a collection of objects that belonged to an African Magical Practitioner.
The seller associated these objects with the Dogon people of Mali, but magic of this kind is common throughout West Africa. And, indeed, the Museum has a similar charm bag from Sudan, considerably further east than Mali (MWM 1970). (See Toby Green's book 'Meeting the Invisible Man' about his exploration of magic in West Africa.)
The contents of charm bags of this kind (often called a taweez) usually include a prayer or quotation from the Qur'an.
See also MWM 1707 and 2398.