Leather Water Flask (Matara)

This leather water flask (matara) is typical of the flasks produced in the 10th century AH/16th century CE onwards, which were carried by pilgrims on their journey to the holy sites and possibly filled with water from the Zamzam sacred well of Mecca. The upper part of their round body ends into two spouts: the small stitched opening was used for pouring and the larger one for filling the flask and closed by a wooden stopper. The leather would usually be taken from the hindquarters of an animal, often from a goat, and stitched in the middle of the flask. Leather industries, producing mainly shoes and bookbindings, are known in several cities of the Ottoman world, the most famous ones being Edirne and Diyabakır, due to their proximity to rivers providing water resources for leather tanning. Pilgrims’ flasks (or zamzamiyya), whether in ceramics, glass, hardstone or metalwork, exist throughout the Islamic art production, with examples executed as ceremonial vessels for high members of the court in refined materials. The MIA collection has another example of the kind (LE.1.1997)