Talisman

Categorized as Terms

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)

Worksheet:

A worksheet for this video is available here.

Also visit the Khamseen Worksheets page here.

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.

Citation:

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

Rachel Parikh is a specialist of Indian and Islamic arms and armor as well as works on paper. She currently serves as the Marguerite S. Hoffman and Thomas W. Lentz Curator of Islamic Art at the Dallas Museum of Art. Prior to this appointment, she held curatorial positions at the Art Institute of Chicago; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Worcester Art Museum; and the Harvard Art Museums. In addition to her curatorial work, Parikh serves as a consultant to major public and private collections of arms and armor, including the Wallace Collection in London (2015-2018). Parikh recently curated the exhibition, “Might and Magnificence: Ceremonial Arms and Armour Across Cultures” (November 2024–February 2025) at the Indra and Harry Banga Gallery, City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK). She has presented her research at both national and international forums and has published widely, including her book, The Khalili Falnamah (2022). Parikh is currently writing her second book on Indian arms and armor.