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  Thelma February 1, 2014 at 2:28pm

  Cecilia, here's interesting photo of an amulet. It's a perforated disc but it seems similar to yours in that the back is filled with clay or ceramic material which has been decorated. I took the photo from Alfred Janata's 'Schmuck in Afghanistan' (1981). He mentions that many natural materials - claws, teeth, talons, snail shells, nuts, clay etc are used for amulets. And that finding examples of these is quite rare :))) Sorry about the distortion in the photo.
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  Ethnic Embellishments February 1, 2014 at 2:46pm

  Thelma, the below amulet is in a bright, turquoise blue faience- it is clay with a glaze.  These are also found in The Levant, especially Syria, and seem to have quite ancient origins.  They are meant to ward off the evil eye. 
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  Thelma February 1, 2014 at 3:30pm

  Hi Hillary. Yes he also mentions that this particular one is blue glaze, slightly yellowish. And that the idea seems to have spread eastwards from the eastern Mediterranean. My goodness, your knowledge of these things is remarkable! I think what struck me was his description of the use of natural materials such as clay  (he also mentions plastic!) as part of an amulet and I remembered we had discussed Cecilia's amulet in different terms a short time ago - as if something was missing.
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  Cecilia February 1, 2014 at 9:13pm

  Hi Thelma and Hillary. Very interesting to hear about the use of clay. I think I have seen modern versions of this amulet shown by Thelma with turquoise plastic in the same circular perforated pattern.

  I found this photo in Sheila Paine's 'Amulets' 2004, an example from Pakistan where there are amulets with a colored center in red and what seems to be black, sewn to a baby's helmet for protection from the evil eye.