Eastern Indonesian Horned Brass Amulet (Taiganja)

This brass amulet in the form of a horned omega figure was cast and worn by the Kulawi people of central Sulawesi, Eastern Indonesia.

It has several ‘horns’ and a pair of ‘wings’ and is decorated on one side with spirals, granulation work and braided wire edging.

A small loop at the top allows suspension.

Such pendants were worn as fertility talismans and perhaps symbolised the womb and related female reproduction organs.

A similar example is illustrated in Wentholt &  Carpenter (2025, p. 96).

The Kulawi people are a tiny minority (numbering today to about 50,000 people) who converted to Christianity in the early 20th century. Their traditional culture was quite distinct from adjacent ethnic groups and has ancient underpinnings. The spiral motifs on the pendant here are suggestive of bronze age motifs.

The example here is complete, wearable and has smoothed contours from age and wear.

The amulet came from the estate of well-known collector Seward Kennedy (1925-2015) who assembled a vast collection of ‘curiosities’ over a period of more than six decades. Kennedy trained as a lawyer, and was American but spent most of his latter years in London. He did though maintain residences in London, Paris and New York. Most of what he acquired he picked up from dealers and antique markets in the UK, Europe and the US.