Talisman

Categorized as Terms

Talisman

Rachel Parikh

Related Terms:

  • al-asma’ al-husna (99 beautiful names of God)
  • ‘ilm al-huruf (science of letters)
  • nad-i ‘Ali (call upon ‘Ali)
  • tarsh (engraved block used for printing)

Related Khamseen Videos:

Rachel Parikh, “Islamic Arms and Armor: Dhu’l Fiqar, ʿAli’s Miraculous Sword,” Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, published 28 August 2020.

Marika Sardar, “The Gwalior Qur’an,” Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, published 28 August 2020.

Eszter Spät, “The Nîshans of the Yezidis of Northern Iraq,” Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, published 13 May 2021.

References:

Ekhtiar, Maryam, and Rachel Parikh. “Power and Piety: Islamic Talismans on the Battlefield.” In Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice, edited by Liana Saif, Francesca Leoni, Matthew Melvin-Koushki, and Farouk Yahya, 420–453, Leiden: Brill, 2020. 

Maddison, Francis, Emilie Savage-Smith, Ralph Pinder-Wilson, and Tim Stanley. Science, Tools & Magic. 2 vols. London: Oxford University Press, 1997. 

Al-Saleh, Yasmine. “Amulets and Talismans of the Islamic World.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. (November 2010).

Savage-Smith, Emilie, ed. Magic and Divination in Early Islam. Aldershot: Ashgate/Varorium, 2004.

Schaefer, Karl. “Mediæval Arabic Block Printing: State of the Field.” In Historical Aspects of Printing and Publishing in Languages of the Middle East: Papers from the Symposium at the University of Leipzig, September 2008, edited by Geoffrey Roper, 1–16, Leiden: Brill, 2014.

Worksheet:

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Citation:

Rachel Parikh, “Talisman,” Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, published 3 September 2021.

Rachel Parikh is the Marguerite S. Hoffman and Thomas W. Lentz Curator of Islamic Art at the Dallas Museum of Art. She also serves as the Deputy Director for the Dunhuang Foundation. Parikh specializes in South Asian and Islamic painting as well as arms and armor. Prior to her current positions, Parikh worked at the Worcester Art Museum; Harvard Art Museums; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Art Institute of Chicago. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. Parikh has lectured nationally and internationally, as well as published extensively. Her first book, The Khalili Falnamah, was published in 2022. You can follow her arms and armor Instagram account.