LOT 0394

Ethiopian Magic Vellum Scroll of Walatta Maryam

LATE 19TH CENTURY A.D.

77 1/2 in. (56 grams, 1.97 m).

Comprising three sheets joined together, bearing neat and regular lines of red and black inked script, together with associated images; the text including prayers for barya and evil eye, for Shotäläy and magical machination; the images representing two guardian angels at the top and bottom, Archangels Michael and Gabriel, within a geometric frame; at the bottom a picture of a jewelled cross with red triangles inserted within the arms; the owner's name given as Wällättä Maryam Beré. [No Reserve]

Ex Adalberto Frezza, 2006.
Ex central London gallery.

See Heldman, M., Munro-Hay Stuart, C., African Zion, The sacred art of Ethiopia, Yale University Press, 1993, pp.44, 65.

The sick looked upon such scrolls as it was believed that the images contained in them had healing powers. The scrolls were prepared by unordained clerics, or debatras, employed by Christian families, a practice which continued into the 20th century. Debatras were skilled at diagnosing the causes of illness, and treated them through scrolls such as that offered here, together with herbal and plant-based remedies; the images and prayers were believed to act on the spiritual source of the ailment, whilst the botanical remedies acted upon the physical symptoms. The scrolls covered the length of the afflicted person's body, providing preventative as well as curative protection and were often passed down through generations of the same family. The patients were often illiterate peasants, and the scrolls written in archaic Ge'ez, a liturgical language comprehended only by clerics; the debatras explained the prayers and the images to the sick. The images are designed to be mesmeric, the penetrating gaze of eyes from within the design giving them a sense of power.