A stamped talisman

A large, undated paper talisman belonging to the Nasser D. Khalili Collection was among the most enigmatic objects on display in the exhibition Power and Protection: Islamic Art and the Supernatural (Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford, 20 October 2016–15 January 2017). Although unusual, this object is not unique and belongs to a group of documents attested in the late Ottoman world that share several features. First, they are all in the same medium, paper, available in various formats. Second, they all show signs of wear and tear, which are not simply a mark of their age or their support’s fragility but also reflect various forms of physical interaction—from touching, rubbing, and, possibly, kissing, to folding and rolling for storage purposes and easy carrying. Third, they all exhibit an impressive variety of imprinted motifs, featuring texts, images, and diagrams, whose content ranges from the devotional to the magical. The purpose of this article is to establish the context of production of the Khalili talisman through a detailed analysis of its material qualities and content. The broad nature of the texts and images available on it ultimately provides the opportunity to reflect on the limited usefulness of clear-cut categories (e.g., sacred/profane, orthodox/heterodox, religious/folkloric, and Sunni/Shiʿi) when trying to understand and position Islamic material evidence connected to occult practices