The evil eye. An account of this ancient and wide spread superstition

VII HAND GESTURES ON STATUETTES 245
and a left, probably of much later date than the
Etruscan, though of the same type of open hand
without special gesture. The writer
believes that there are Greek examples
of the like kind at the Museums of
Girgenti and Syracuse ; at Cortona
there certainly are more than one, and
also in the Museo Kircheriano at
Rome ;
but whether these latter are
Roman or Etruscan he has omitted
to note.^®^
Fig. 105 is an Etruscan statuette
from the Collegio Romano at Rome.
Fig. 105.
Fig. 104.
From Naples.
Here it looks rather more finished
and in better proportion than the
original, which is very longMrawn
out. The figure, about eight
inches high, is one of two ; unlike
in other respects, both hold up
the right hand as shown, with
palm and fingers extended. The
attitude is so marked in both
figures that they can only be
taken to be designed for the ex-
hibition of this manual gesture.
They are placed with other
ancient bronzes found in Sardinia,
and are evidently of great an-
tiquity, probably Phoenician.
Ancient statues of this kind, of
3S7 In the Ashmolean Museum are three small
Egyptian amulets evidently for suspension. They
are open hands of the usual blue pottery, but
small, and almost identical in type with many a coral hand to be seen to-day
in the Naples shops. No doubt the open hand has been worn as a protection
throughout the thirty centuries since these little charms were made.