Hamsa (Gaster Amulet 3)
A Hamsa amulet made of blue beads.
Information about this document
- Physical Location: The John Rylands Library
- Collection: Gaster Amulet Collection
- Classmark: Gaster Amulet 3
- Title: Hamsa
- Language(s): No linguistic content
- Subject(s): Amulets
- Origin Place: North Africa or Palestine?
- Date of Creation: 19th-20th century
- Former Owner(s): Gaster, Moses 1856-1939
- Note(s):
The blue colour and the construction of the Hamsa, with most fingers consisting of seven beads (except for the thumb), strongly indicate its purpose as an amulet against the evil eye. Attached to it is a small note by Gaster that reads: "Big bead hamesa to to wared off the evil soul".
- Physical Description:
Probably "Hebron beads", made of glass, tied with white and red strings.
Each finger, except for the thumb, is made of seven beads.
- Format: Jewellery
- Material(s): Glass; Cotton fibre
- Extent: height: 25 mm, width: 35 mm.
- Technique(s): beadwork
- Mode: Worn around the neck or carried on the person.
- Function: Protection against the evil eye, especially for babies.
- Shape: Hamsa-shaped
- Condition:
Fine
- Decoration:
Hamsa
- Acquisition: Acquired by The John Rylands Library from the heirs of Moses Gaster in 1954.
- Date of Acquisition: 1954
- Data Source(s): Catalogue description is by Gal Sofer (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva); edited by Zsófia Buda.
- Bibliography:On the Hebron beads, see Maud Spaer, Ancient Glass in the Israel Museum: Beads and Other Small Objects (Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 2001), 146-147.
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- Physical Location: The John Rylands Library
- Collection: Gaster Amulet Collection
- Classmark: Gaster Amulet 3
- Title: Hamsa
- Language(s): No linguistic content
- Subject(s): Amulets
- Origin Place: North Africa or Palestine?
- Date of Creation: 19th-20th century
- Former Owner(s): Gaster, Moses 1856-1939
- Note(s):
The blue colour and the construction of the Hamsa, with most fingers consisting of seven beads (except for the thumb), strongly indicate its purpose as an amulet against the evil eye. Attached to it is a small note by Gaster that reads: "Big bead hamesa to to wared off the evil soul".
- Physical Description:
Probably "Hebron beads", made of glass, tied with white and red strings.
Each finger, except for the thumb, is made of seven beads.
- Format: Jewellery
- Material(s): Glass; Cotton fibre
- Extent: height: 25 mm, width: 35 mm.
- Technique(s): beadwork
- Mode: Worn around the neck or carried on the person.
- Function: Protection against the evil eye, especially for babies.
- Shape: Hamsa-shaped
- Condition:
Fine
- Decoration:
Hamsa
- Acquisition: Acquired by The John Rylands Library from the heirs of Moses Gaster in 1954.
- Date of Acquisition: 1954
- Data Source(s): Catalogue description is by Gal Sofer (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva); edited by Zsófia Buda.
- Bibliography:On the Hebron beads, see Maud Spaer, Ancient Glass in the Israel Museum: Beads and Other Small Objects (Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 2001), 146-147.
