Amuletic necklace of threaded seeds with a metal charm box pendant decorated with embossed lotus flowers. The box has two loops on either side, to which the necklace is attached.The necklace is of dried, round seeds with six textile square packages and one triangular one attached at intervals. One square is pierced with a miniature wooden implement.
Unlike other Tibetan amulets or g’au in the Horniman’s collection this example is suspended from a necklace which incorporates a number of smaller fabric-covered amulets. These smaller amulets probably contain mantras. The tiny wooden dagger stuck through one of the amulets may well have served to protect the wearer from malign influence. The presence of so many amulets on one necklace suggests that this object was designed to afford its wearer maximum protection. Amulets such as this are most efficacious when worn next to the skin, which is probably why many of the fabric-covered amulets are quite greasy. The beads used for the necklace appear to be the seeds of either the ziziphus abyssinica or the ziziphus jujuba var. spinosa. These seeds, colloquially known as phoenix eye or small phoenix eye are often used by Tibetans for bodhi beads, the beads which make up a Buddhist rosary.
