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The evil eye in amulet traditions

Museum records place evil-eye amulets in the Roman Empire, Tunisia, Syria, Italy, Spain and Bavaria. What those records support, and what they do not.

Scope of these accounts

Community or institution
Victoria and Albert Museum
Period
19th century
Period
1st century CE
Region
Germany
Region
Italy
Region
Mediterranean Basin
Region
North Africa
Region
Spain
Region
Syria
Region
Tunisia
Region
West Asia

Direct answer

The evil eye is the belief that a hostile or envious look can cause harm, and the amulets associated with it are recorded across a wide span of regions and periods.

The seven catalogue entries cited on this page run from a Roman gold ring of the second century AD, through eighteenth-century stone charms from Bavaria, to nineteenth-century pieces from Tunisia, Italy, Syria and Spain, and the objects look nothing alike: two rings, a silk sash, a set of stone amulets, a small frog, a carved fist and a tip of antler.

This page does not assign the belief a single point of origin or a single owning culture. The catalogue records establish that such amulets were made and worn in the places and periods listed; they do not establish where the idea started, and no source held here settles that question.

Objects on record

This table scrolls sideways on narrow screens.

DateObjectCatalogue recordRegion
100–200 CEGold ring, probably a child's, with a small phallic charm applied to the bezel. The Victoria and Albert Museum's catalogue entry connects charms of this kind with fertility and with keeping the evil eye away, and notes that Roman children wore such amuletic jewellery.V&A 465-1871Roman Empire
1700–1799Three stone amulets in silver mounts on a steel ring, all of stone from the south German Alps. The V&A catalogue entry says patterned stones such as fossil coral were used there to ward off witches as well as the evil eye, and that people in the region turned such amulets out in quantity for sale across southern Germany.V&A 910:1 to 4-1872Bavaria
circa 1850Woven silk sash, striped blue and white, with a repeated hand motif. The V&A catalogue entry links hands, and designs made of five parts, to countering the evil eye, and describes the evil-eye belief as widespread around the Mediterranean: the idea that an envious look brings harm.V&A 809-1852Tunisia
1800–1860Gold ring holding fifteen turquoises, of a type the V&A catalogue entry assigns to the Lazio region. The entry records that the stone's blue colour was thought to keep the evil eye away.V&A 440-1868Italy
1860–1870Small frog-shaped pendant of cast silver. The V&A catalogue entry records that when the museum bought it in 1872, as a sample of everyday Syrian jewellery, it was described as a charm against the evil eye.V&A 1558-1873Syria
1800–1900Carved jet fist in a silver mount, making the figa gesture with the thumb between two fingers, with a crescent moon and face engraved on the palm side. The V&A catalogue entry calls the gesture an old charm against the evil eye, traceable to Roman times at the latest, and the jet version a Spanish type.V&A M.22-1917Spain
1800–1899Pointed piece of stag antler, set in silver. The V&A catalogue entry places charms like this in everyday use across nineteenth-century southern Europe, among adults and children alike, and notes that the donor recorded this one as used to guard children from the evil eye.V&A M.14-1917Spain

Sources for the statements on this page

In the present-day jewellery market

Eye motifs are produced as jewellery today.

The blue glass eye bead is the form most people will recognise — and none of the records cited on this page documents it: the seven catalogue entries above are two rings, a silk sash, a set of stone amulets, a small frog, a carved fist and a tip of antler.

Its absence here is a limit of what this wiki holds, not evidence about where that bead came from. Contemporary production is a market fact and is recorded as one; it does not add weight to any account of where the motif came from.

How LumaLark uses this motif

LumaLark treats the eye motif as a design form with a long and plural record, and describes it that way. It does not state that an object shields anyone from harm, does not present the motif as belonging to one nation or faith, and does not borrow the language of blessing or consecration from any religious tradition to sell an object.

Brand intention expression

These reviewed links show which LumaLark intention themes cite this cultural record. A link records that the theme references this context; it does not mean the historical or cultural practice described above endorses, requires, or was created for that theme.