- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Contemporary charm made from a horseshoe, onto which a hag stone, feathers, rowan berries, and other natural materials have been tied.
- Geographical reference
- Date / Period
- Date made: 2024
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 10/06/2024
- Materials and processes
- Material Steel Metal, Material Limestone Stone, Material Bird Feather, Material Glass, Material Plant Leaf, Material String Plant, Material Moss Plant, Material Ceramic, Material Wood Plant
- Dimensions
- Length: max 380 mm, Width: max 170 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 2024.8.1
- Research and responses
In January 2024 the Pitt Rivers Museum, together with Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), hosted a two-day workshop entitled "Amulets, charms and witch bottles: Thinking about ‘magical’ objects in museum collections through spiritual pagan practitioner and curator led interaction". As part of this workshop, creative practitioners were commissioned to create their own artistic outputs in response to the objects they had interacted with. Dr Kirsty Ryder created this charm and provided the following information: “Salvaged horseshoes have been significant in my magical and creative working practises for several years. I enjoy finding and restoring them, then enhancing and imbuing each one with specific intentions tailored to their different purposes. I chose to make a protective charm for the PRM that would not only respond directly to their collection, but also capture the spirit of our workshop and those involved. Above all I wanted to create a tangible link between folk magic past and present, demonstrating that these practices persist, and challenging the notion that such traditions are solely past tense, as some museum language might suggest. This charm consists of a salvaged horseshoe which has been cleaned and treated with a metal lacquer against rust. Most of the components which adorn the horseshoe are quite clear in their links to the PRM collection – for example the fluffy white feathers of the Ghirlanda, the twine/feathers of the witch's ladder and glass beads which also appear often in the collection. The charm includes many protective elements; a rowan knot, rowan branches with red string, dried rowan berries, a hagstone, bells and a silver tree charm - trees are of course a very protective symbol as they act as guardians in variety of ways. The small clay Bartmann style jug is functional, and the cork can be removed (a message is to be added which we can decide upon). The heart-shaped glass bottle contains red satin hearts which correlate to the number of people involved in the workshop - this is to harness the spirit of the workshop and positive intention for the care of the magical objects within the collection. The bottle also contains rowan berries, herbs including thyme for space protection, and gold leaf which in this usage acts to preserve and maintain the prosperity and abundance of the collection."
2024.8.1
Contemporary charm made from a horseshoe, onto which a hag stone, feathers, rowan berries, and other natural materials have been tied.
2024.8.1
Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford
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