Cornicello & horn amulets
Meaning
The cornicello is a twisted, tapering horn, traditionally red coral, later silver, gold or red plastic. The horn is male strength and fertility and the moon's crescent, and its point 'pierces' the evil eye.
Intent
It is worn on necklaces, hung in cars and homes, and given as gifts (a horn should be given, not bought for oneself) to deflect jettatura and bring luck. The spoken formula 'tiè, tiè' and touching the horn go with it.
Significance
It is the best-known Italian amulet today, sold everywhere in Naples. It descends from the Roman phallus and crescent, making it an unbroken two-thousand-year tradition in a new shape.
History
The modern corno developed in 18th–19th century Naples from older horn and coral amulets, and it spread worldwide with Italian emigration.
Making yours
3–8 cm curved, tapering and twisted horn in red coral, horn or silver. Hand-carved, with a small cap and loop.Mediterranean & Iberian Folk: the tradition
Southern Italy and Spain kept the Roman fight against the evil eye going without a break. In Naples the belief in jettatura, the unlucky glance, was taken seriously enough that 19th-century gentlemen made the horns sign in their pockets; Nicola Valletta's Cicalata sul fascino volgarmente detto jettatura (1787) is its classic text. Spanish children wore belts hung with jet higas, crystal, coral and chestnuts. Walter Leo Hildburgh collected thousands of these amulets in the early 20th century and gave them to the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Pitt Rivers and the Wellcome, which is why so many are in British museums today.
Stag's horn amulet mounted in silver, Madrid (Spain), 1800-1899Madrid · 1800-1899
Thorn amulet set in a silver mount, Naples (Italy), 1890-1910Naples · 1890-1910
Stag's horn amulet mounted in silver, Seville (Spain), 1800-1899Seville · 1800-1899
Horn amulet
AMULET - Ida Bons, Jack Horn, Han Koning, Tom van BeekNetherlands
AmuletthornCameroon
Horn, malumgu amulet from Democratic Republic of the CongoDemocratic Republic of the Congo
Horn amulet from Sierra LeoneSierra Leone
amulet, jewellery, horn, jewellery, ornaments, amuletSweden
Amulett aus AntilopenhornGermany
AmuletthornRepublic of Cameroon (Herstellung)
magi och kult, magiska medel, amulettSweden
Amulet of cow-headed goddess with feathers atop disk and horns525–30 BC Period: Late Period–Ptolemaic Period
Amuletic necklace of shell chain with horn tips, AfricanAfrica
M0016772: Spanish Amulets: horns
Stag's horn amulet mounted in silver, Madrid (Spain), 1800-1899Madrid · 1800-1899
Stag's horn amulet mounted in silver, Seville (Spain), 1800-1899Seville · 1800-1899
Horn, dyrehorn amulet
Amulett av missbildat hornSweden
magi och kult, magiska medel, amulettSweden
Amulet emphasizing a pair of hornscirca 3650 date QS:P571,+3650-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902 –3300 B.C. Period: Naqada II
Amuletic necklace of shell chain with horn tips, AfricanAfrica
Horn amulet
magi och kult, magiska medel, amulettSweden
Mold for an Amulet of Horns and Sun Diskcirca 1390 date QS:P571,+1390-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902 –1353 B.C. Period: New Kingdom Dynasty: Dynasty 18 Reign:
Modell, horn amulet
Spanish Amulets; horns.
Small Cornetto
Algerian Amuletic Shirt in the Horniman Museum
Amuleto fallico in osso o corno, gruppo del pozzo III e IV, 150-50 ac ca
CornicelloCharm
IT-neapel-curnicielloMore from Mediterranean & Iberian Folk: Neapolitan charms (sirena & others)
Every type in the gallery
Anything in the gallery can be made, by hand, in the prescribed metal or yours and, where the tradition names an hour, at that hour or with a plain note that it was not. Numbered. Price on commission, quoted first. I reply within one business day.