Caption

Waterskin matara, Islamic/Turkish, Ottoman dynasty 1299–1922, 2nd half of the 16th century, Turkey. Kidney-shaped leather waterskin with an appliqué of a colorful lizard; bottle with rounded bottom, narrow neck for pouring and small spout for drinking. Decorated with applied arabesques cut from shagreen and arabesques painted with gold. One narrow side bears a protective emblem in the form of a six-pointed star Seal of Solomon intended to ensure the water's freshness. The leather matara is a copy of gold bottles set with precious stones used at the sultan's court and may have been used during military expeditions. Dimensions: height 23.0 cm, width 24.5 cm, depth 14.0 cm, weight 0.62 kg., An ornately decorated curved container with a narrow neck and a short spout, shown against a plain light gray background, featuring a textured surface with swirling vine and floral motifs; the main visible colors are dark brown and black on the body, with prominent accents of red, green, and gold throughout the patterned areas, and some worn lighter beige and orange tones along edges and raised details.

Credit line

Photo12/Liszt Collection

Reference

LZT26A22_343

License type

Rights managed

Available size

77.2Mb (2.8Mb) / 20.0in x 15.0in / 6000 x 4500 (300dpi)

Keywords

Waterskin matara Islamic Turkish Ottoman dynasty 1299–1922 2nd half 16th century Turkey Kidney-shaped leather waterskin appliqué colorful lizard bottle rounded bottom narrow neck pouring small spout drinking Decorated applied arabesques cut shagreen arabesques painted gold narrow side bears protective emblem form six-pointed star Seal Solomon intended ensure water's freshness leather matara copy gold bottles set precious stones sultan's court military expeditions Dimensions height 23.0 cm width 24.5 cm depth 14.0 cm weight 0.62 kg ornately decorated curved container short spout shown plain light gray background featuring textured surface swirling vine floral motifs main visible colors dark brown black body prominent accents red green patterned areas worn lighter beige orange tones edges raised details.