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Artwork Tombstone
CultureAlamblak
CultureYimam
TitleAmulet (Yipwon)
DateBefore 1965
MediumWood and pigment
DimensionsObject: 15 × 3 3/4 × 1 in. (38.1 × 9.5 × 2.5 cm)
Overall (includes mount): 16 1/16 × 3 1/2 × 3 7/16 in. (40.8 × 8.9 × 8.7 cm)
Credit LineEskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number80.34
This artwork is currently on view.
Image Forthcoming

Known as yipwon, amulets such as this one were utilized by the Alamblak, Yiman and other peoples to aid and protect the amulet’s owner during both warfare and hunting. In addition to being personally owned, such amulets were personally named.

Larger yipwon, owned by the community instead of an individual, followed the same form, the use of alternating and curved pointed hooks vertically arranged around a central element. This amulet has both an anthropomorphic head at its center and a parrot head at the bottom.

Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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Cite this page
"Amulet | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=80.34