Amulet
1700-1799 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Stones with distinctive colours or patterns have been used as amulets since the dawn of time. Their colour or pattern often determined their use. Patterned stones, such as fossilised corals or strongly-veined stones, like this, were considered, in the south German region, a powerful protection against witches and the evil eye.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Olive-green and black serpentine mounted in silver |
| Brief description | Heart-shaped olive-green serpentine amulet (Schreckstein) set in a silver mount, Bavarian Tyrol (Germany), 1700-1799. |
| Physical description | Amulet made from a piece of olive and black stone, probably serpentine, with a flat back and conical front, mounted in a silver frame open on both sides with a decorative toothed setting at the front. There is a hole drilled through the stone at the centre of the top. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Hildburgh gift |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | Stones with distinctive colours or patterns have been used as amulets since the dawn of time. Their colour or pattern often determined their use. Patterned stones, such as fossilised corals or strongly-veined stones, like this, were considered, in the south German region, a powerful protection against witches and the evil eye. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | M.29-1917 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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