4123 – African Amulet
- Physical description:
- An amulet consisting of three charm bags and a tooth or claw encased in leather. The end of the tooth/claw is protruding from the leather wrapping. There are two smaller charm bags, which appear to be made of snake skin, and a larger one of dark coloured leather with a barely visible pattern embossed on it. They are all joined together by a twisted leather thong, so that they could be worn around a person's neck.
- Museum classification:
- Spells and Charms
- Size:
- 55 x 55 x 4 (larger bag), 65 x 25 x 25
- 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, animal tooth or claw
- 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.