4124 – African Amulet
- Physical description:
- An amulet consisting of a small charm bag of brown leather attached to a short twisted leather thong (the kind of length that would allow it to be worn round a person's wrist).
- Museum classification:
- Spells and Charms
- Size:
- 40 x 30 x 10
- Information:
Part of a collection of objects that belonged to an African Magical Practitioner.
An additional piece of leather thong suggests that originally there was probably another object also attached.
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 etc.
- Copyright ownership:
- MWM
Part of a collection of objects that belonged to an African Magical Practitioner.
An additional piece of leather thong suggests that originally there was probably another object also attached.
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.