Skip to content
Pitt Rivers Museum
AboutHire the MuseumNewsletterUniversity of Oxford

1985.52.274

Amulet, ex-voto in the shape of a leg, cast in white metal, perforated for suspension. [ACA 01/03/2012]

1985.52.274

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

Terms and Conditions

If you wish to order a high-resolution image and/or licence its use for print or web publication, exhibition, film, promotional product or any other use, whether in the academic or commercial sector of any print run, then please visit photographic services.

Collection type
Object
Description
Amulet, ex-voto in the shape of a leg, cast in white metal, perforated for suspension. [ACA 01/03/2012]
Geographical reference
Algeria
Africa > Northern Africa > Algeria
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1931
Date collected
By 1931
Acquisition information
Transferred: 1985
Materials and processes
Material White Metal, Process Perforated, Process Cast
Dimensions
Height: max 100 mm, Width: max 26 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1985.52.274 Other numbers: 504
Associated publications
This amulet was selected for the Small Blessings project website [http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/amulets], online text as follows: Cast in a white metal and perforated so that they could be hung at a shrine, these two limbs are Roman Catholic ex-votos. They were acquired sometime during the French rule of Algeria (1830–1962), and signify the presence of Christianity in a Muslim land. Christianity first arrived in North Africa in the 1st or early 2nd century AD. It was eclipsed by Islam during the 7th century, and was not reintroduced in Algeria until 1838. As part of the process of French colonisation a diocese was established in Algiers, the capital of Algeria. Immigrants from France, Italy and Spain soon arrived in the country, and a large cathedral named Notre Dame d-Afrique (Our Lady of Africa) was built overlooking the Bay of Algiers. [CB 29/08/2012]

Search terms: Religion, Figure, Amulet, Religious Offering, Religious Object