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Ethiopian Scroll with the Lion of Judah
(Ethiopia)
This prayer scroll was written in the nineteenth century to protect its owner, Wäldä Giyorgis. The front of the scroll contains prayers against evil which invoke the help of the Archangel Phanuel, while the back contains prayers requesting things as diverse as luck in love, help with headaches, and the protection of domestic animals. Scrolls such as these would have been worn as protective devices, and were made the length of the owner in order to protect them from head to foot. With a length of 151 cm, it can be inferred that Walda Giyorgis stood just under 5 feet tall.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Joseph Dietrich, Alexandria, Virginia [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Gene Guerny, Alrlington, Virginia [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1997, by gift.
Exhibitions
| 2006-2007 | Angels of Light: Ethiopian Art from the Walters Art Museum. Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton; Museum of Biblical Art, New York. |
Geographies
Ethiopia (Place of Origin)
Measurements
Folio H: 59 7/16 × W: 3 7/16 in. (151 × 8.8 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Gene Guerny, 1997
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
W.845