Maskeh

NameAmulet

Dateca. 1910

Place madeMiddle East, Asia

Mediumsilver

Dimensionsoverall: 56 CM X 12 CM

Credit LineIFAF Collection

Object numberFA.1972.25.3 K

Collections

Palestinian Dress and Jewelry

DescriptionWith arabic writing and triangular motif engravings. Seven coins suspended from bottom of amulet by three different types of long chains. Amulet suspended from long chain.

FA. 72.25 3k Maskeh (ca. 1910) (Fig. 44) This disc-shaped amulet is known in Palestinian Arabic as a māskeh, "that which holds or grasps" (and therefore, protects). 14 The silver disc is decorated with a hammered double border filled with triangles. There is an inscription, also hammered, in the center which reads: "In the name of God the Merciful and the Beneficent" (the so-called basmallah formula) 15 and "O Protector." Seven chains are soldered to the lower third of the disc. Each chain ends in a twenty-para coin, each coin dating from A.H. 1327 (a.d. 1909–10). There are three different styles of chains arranged symmetrically so that the two outer chains match, as do the second chains from each end. The central three chains are also identical. The amulet is suspended from a long chain of figure-eight silver links. This style of amulet is common in other Middle Eastern countries. Lane, for example, shows a number of Egyptian pendants with similar inscriptions, and with seven smaller pieces hanging beneath them.16 Length of chain: 56 cm. (Palestinian Costume and Jewelry, Yedida Kalfon Stillman, 1979 ISBN: 0-82630490-7)