Caption

Waterskin matara, Turkish, Ottoman dynasty 1299–1922, 2nd half of the 16th century, Turkey, vessel; leather, kidney-shaped waterskin with an appliqué of a colorful lizard; height 23.0 cm, width 24.5 cm, depth 14.0 cm, weight 0.62 kg. Bottle with rounded bottom, narrow neck for pouring and a 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 by the sultan during military expeditions in Europe. The matara is a unique object type; four such artifacts are known worldwide., An ornate object with a symmetrical, elongated shape sits against a plain pale gray background; the object displays a textured surface with decorative patterns in shades of green, red, orange, gold, and dark gray, and features a central round opening on its visible face, curved edges, and a small protrusion at the bottom, with the piece casting a soft reflection on the surface beneath it.

Credit line

Photo12/Liszt Collection

Reference

LZT26A22_347

License type

Rights managed

Available size

77.2Mb (1.4Mb) / 20.0in x 15.0in / 6000 x 4500 (300dpi)

Keywords

Waterskin matara Turkish Ottoman dynasty 1299–1922 2nd half 16th century Turkey vessel leather kidney-shaped waterskin appliqué colorful lizard height 23.0 cm width 24.5 cm depth 14.0 cm weight 0.62 kg 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 sultan military expeditions Europe matara unique object type four artifacts worldwide ornate object symmetrical elongated shape sits plain pale gray background object displays textured surface decorative patterns shades green red orange dark gray features central round opening visible face curved edges small protrusion bottom piece casting soft reflection surface beneath .