Art exhibition on amulets and child loss

During the Small Blessings project we received a research visit from artist Marie Brett, who was in the development stage of a project looking at the sensitive subject of amulets as signifiers of pregnancy and infant loss. With support from Arts Council the artist worked with bereaved parents and three national hospitals in Ireland.

Marie also entered our amulet photo competition with this entry:

Now Marie's exhibition is ready. 'Amanesis' will be showing at the Waterford Central Library in Ireland until May 3rd.

Even after the official end of the Small Blessings amulet project, it's great to learn of these ripple effects and additional outcomes that it contributed to. It was a pleasure to meet Marie and we wish her every success with her exhibition and future projects.

Helen

'Charmed Life' exhibition at Winchester

This week is the last week you'll be able to see Charmed Life: the Solace of Objects, an exhibition featuring amulets from the Pitt Rivers' collections and curated by artist Felicity Powell. Hosted by the Winchester Discovery Centre, this is a second outing for the exhibition that originally ran at the Wellcome Collection in London last year.

Exhibition finishes on 14 April 2013, FREE entry.

Read this great article about the exhibition from the 'Come Step Back in Time' history blog.

Watch our video interview with Felicity Powell discussing her inspiration for, and approach to, the project.

Read our past blog entry about the deinstallation of the exhibition at Wellcome by Pitt Rivers staff - a process about to be repeated next week!

Hearts in Mind

Ah, February 14th. Will you be sharing heart-shaped cards with your beloved, or sitting alone on the sofa in your pyjamas eating chocolate and settling for heart-throbs on screen? Either way, Valentine's Day is all about hearts and here are two very different ones from our collections:

First up is this Sacred Heart from the de Mortillet amulet collection. What began as a vision by a 17th-century French nun, Marguerite-Marie Alacoque, of Jesus Christ showing her his heart entwined with thorns and flames turned into an active cult of worship in France. There is a Sacred Heart feast day, the symbol was adopted for protection during the French Revolution, and of course there is the famous white church of Sacré-Cœur Basilica at Montmartre in Paris.

PRM 1985.52.33

Next is a rather more gruesome heart object - a preserved human heart in a leaden case, discovered in the medieval crypt of a church in Cork, Ireland and collected by General Pitt Rivers in the 1860s.

PRM 1884.57.18

For an interesting account of the history and significance of heart ablation and burial separate from the body, see this article on one of our project sites. Alternatively, this object features on our gallery audio tour and you can hear the entry here (3 mins):

Listen to ‘Heart in a lead casket, Ireland, 1884.57.18’


Helen

Popes and amulets

Today's surprising news that Pope Benedict XVI has announced his retirement has got us thinking of all things papal.

Left: medallion, PRM 1985.51.528 and right: scapular, PRM 1985.52.2836

Here are two devotional items from two rich amulet collections covered before in this blog - the Edward Lovett collection and the Adrien de Mortillet collection. Both were originally acquired by Henry Wellcome and subsequently transferred to the Pitt Rivers from the Wellcome Medical Institute in the 1980s. More than 300 of the Lovett amulets were selected by artist Felicity Powell for her 'Charmed Life' exhibition at Wellcome last year, which you'll have another chance to see when it opens at the Winchester Discovery Centre this weekend. 

On the left is a circular gilt medallion stamped with a likeness of Pope Pius IX on one side and the Virgin Mary on the reverse. Pius was the longest-reigning Pope to date, holding office for almost 32 years (1846 - 1878). He convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal infallibility.

On the right is a scapular in wool and cotton. Scapulars (from the Latin for 'shoulder') were introduced by the Carmelite monks in the Middle Ages and later formed part of the habit of various monastic orders. They evoke the shape of an apron - denoting one's commitment to serve - and offer protection, both in life and after death. Pope John Paul II wore one all his life. The flaming heart, or Sacred Heart, is a common design on scapulars, along with printed images of Mary and Jesus.  This example from the de Mortillet collection is said to have come from St Peter's in Rome.

When shall we see the white smoke rise up from the Vatican, signalling the election of a new Pope? We wait and see!

Helen

For Your Eyes Only

Last week I was lucky enough to be in the old city of Rhodes on the eponymous Greek island at the time of their 'Open Doors' day. This is part of an annual event in late September that is spreading Europe-wide (in England we know it as 'Heritage Open Days'), where places of historical and cultural interest not normally accessible to the public open their doors for free.

In one of the small streets of in the old town, set back behind a wall was a little Byzantine church called Agia Paraskevi. Situated in Chora, the quarter where common citizens lived, it was built around AD 1500 in the free-cross style with a dome. Inside, walls that had been whitewashed during Ottoman occupation had been partially restored to reveal the remains of colourful frescoes.

Agia Paraskevi Church, Ippodamou Sreet, Rhodes © Wikimedia Commons

Paraskevi was a 2nd-century martyr of Greek parentage and a popular Orthodox saint. According to legend, she was brought to trial for her faith before the emperor Antonius Pius in Rome. After surviving submersion in boiling oil and tar she was accused of magic so she threw some of the mixture into the emperor's face, blinding him. She told him he could only be healed by the grace of God so when he pleaded, she restored his sight. Antonius henceforth ended persecutions agains Christians across the empire and Paraskevi became known as the protector and healer of eyes.  

Propped up in various nooks inside the church were painted icons of Saint Paraskevi, showing her holding a cross and a bowl of eyes. Some were adorned with beaten metal ex-voto amulets of eyes and limbs, representing modern-day churchgoers' prayers to the saint to cure afflictions to that part of the body - such as blindness or paralysis. They might also have been placed there as gratitude for recovery.

Icon of Saint Paraskevi adorned with ex-votos

These were very similar to many of the metal ex-voto eyes we found in de Mortillet's collection, although some of these may have been devoted to other saints associated with blindness such as Saint Lucy.

Ex-voto eyes, Algeria and Belgium; PRM 1985.52.389 and 1985.52.754 

Whilst history tells of many miracles taking place at Paraskevi's tomb - the blind receiving sight, the lame walking, and barren women becoming pregnant - it is clear that the search for miracles and divine healing remains part of the Christian faith in some parts of the world through de Mortillet's era more than a century ago and on into the 21st century.

Helen