Amulet
1650-1700 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Amulets were widely used throughout Catholic Europe, from the 17th to the early 20th century, to protect their wearers from all kinds of physical and spiritual dangers. Children were considered particularly vulnerable, and their parents often attached amulets to their clothing or hung them over their cradles. Many 17th-century portraits of aristocratic Spanish children survive showing them wearing numerous amulets suspended from their waists.
This amulet was described as British, and said to have been found in a hedgerow, when it was acquired by the V&A in the early 20th century. It is very similar to surviving 17th-century Spanish amulets and may well be Spanish in origin.
This amulet was described as British, and said to have been found in a hedgerow, when it was acquired by the V&A in the early 20th century. It is very similar to surviving 17th-century Spanish amulets and may well be Spanish in origin.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Silver |
| Brief description | Silver pendent crescent amulet with a whistle and bells, Britain or Spain, 1650-1700. |
| Physical description | Amulet made from a tube of silver curved into a crescent, with a hollow bead in the centre at the lowest point. One end of the tube is a whistle, and the other is shaped like a mount for a missing object, with triangular teeth, and a strip of twisted wire round its base. There are three bells hanging from the lower edge of the tube, one at each end and one from the central bead. The tube is suspended from a ring by three lengths of chain. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Marks and inscriptions | A C. (Maker's mark) |
| Credit line | Gift of Lord Zouche |
| Object history | Register: Whistle. Silver, in the form of a hunting horn hung with three grelots and suspended by the three chains from a ring. mark, AC. Dug out of a hedgrow near Reigate, with a tankard and silver cup, in 1854. english.; 17th century. In the middle of the globular ornament a finial appears to be lost from one end. L. suspended 4 in., W. of tube 2.8 in. Original label: Silver call or whistle, used to summon the household servants before the general use of bells; it was dug out of a hedgerow near Reigate, with a tankard and a silver cp, in 1854. English work, 17th century. lent by Lord Zouche- 74. 1876. |
| Summary | Amulets were widely used throughout Catholic Europe, from the 17th to the early 20th century, to protect their wearers from all kinds of physical and spiritual dangers. Children were considered particularly vulnerable, and their parents often attached amulets to their clothing or hung them over their cradles. Many 17th-century portraits of aristocratic Spanish children survive showing them wearing numerous amulets suspended from their waists. This amulet was described as British, and said to have been found in a hedgerow, when it was acquired by the V&A in the early 20th century. It is very similar to surviving 17th-century Spanish amulets and may well be Spanish in origin. |
| Bibliographic reference | For similar, see:
Gonzalez, Luisa Abad, 'La Coleccion de Amuletos del Museo Diocesano de Cuenca', Cuenca, 2005, ISBN 848427411X, pp.22, 80, 85, 93, 149-151 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | M.94-1917 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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