Minneapolis Institute of Art

Amulet (tcherot)

Tuareg artist

Date

20th century

Medium

Metal, braided leather

Culture

Tuareg

Department

Arts of Global Africa

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Tuareg men and women wear metal amulets containing Qur’anic verses and other protective messages suspended from cords around their necks. The large example is especially rare because of an inscription incised on the outside in Tifinar script, which is related to ancient Libyan scripts dating to 150 BCE (See photo). The inscription, whose letters are made of lines, circles, and dots, reads from right to left and transcribes as NK SDLMQTR XLYFA. It means, “I am Mr. Lmqtar Khalifa, ” likely referring to a previous owner Niger, Africa

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