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Charm

Gallery Location
Not on View
Medium Stagbeetle head and mandible with silver fittings
Geography
Historic Palestine, purchased in Jerusalem
Date 19th century AD
Dimensions 5.2 x 3.8 x 4 cm
Object number 910.87.601
Taxonomy
  • Kingdom Animalia
  • Phylum Arthropoda
  • Class Insecta
  • Order Coleoptera
  • Family Lucanidae
Department Art & Culture: Islamic World
Description
In his 77 AD Natural History Pliny the Elder in describing the beetle family mentions "in one large kind we find horns of a remarkable length, two-pronged at the extremities, and forming pincers, which the animal closes when it is its intention to bite. These beetles are suspended from the neck of infants by way of remedy against certain maladies" This amulet is presumably of a similar purpose to that described by Pliny.
Charm
Charm - 910.87.601_3
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