Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

These elaborate boxes are known as bazuband (armband) because they were tied to the arm using string. Used as amulet cases, they may well have also been employed to store miniature Qur’ans, or select verses of the revelation considered to hold special protective powers.

The talismanic nature of these objects is confirmed by the verses used in the inscriptions decorating them. The star-shaped medallion on the lid of this case features a basmala (an Islamic formula that reads ‘in the name of God, the Merciful and the Compassionate’). Part of the surat al-Falak (‘The Daybreak’), invoking God’s protection, can also be seen in the band surrounding it.