charm

Round brass coin-shaped charm with a round hole at the centre, surrounded on the obverse by images of The Twelve Terrestrial Branches and the twelve zodiac animals, with the eight Daoist trigrams on the reverse. The Twelve Terrestrial Branches, sometimes referred to as the Twelve Earthly Branches, are combined with the Ten Celestial Stems to count the Chinese 'Cycle of Sixty'. It is a device widely used in the traditional Chinese calendar.

Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database retains language taken from historical documents to help research. Please note that some records may feature language and reflect systems of thinking that are outdated and offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

If you have any further information about objects in our collections, can suggest corrections to our information or if you see content requiring immediate action, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk