Hausa Qur'anic & Fortune Teller's Board

Star-shaped diamond of zigzags sits below a short block of crisp script.

This Qur'anic and fortune teller's board is Hausa, from West Africa, and dates to the late 19th or early 20th century. It is wood & ink. Ink for such boards is typically made from soot or plant material mixed with a binder, and the pen is cut from a reed or a similar stem. Narrow board with a small handle and a lightly curved base. The upper face holds about a dozen lines of fine brown script. Below, a many-pointed star with a band of triangles in the center is drawn in thin brown lines. It is 8.25 inches wide, 0.75 deep and 20 high.

A tiny star, drawn with a very steady hand.