Title: An Imperial Pilgrim’s Water Flask
Date: 19th century
Location: Turkey
Materials: leather with metal-thread embroidery; turned wooden stopper
Dimensions: height 45.5cm
Accession Number: MXD 366
Other Notes:
The flask (matara) was most probably used to collect water from Zamzam – the well inside the Meccan sanctuary – to take back to Sultan ‘Abdulhamid II (reg. 1876–1909) in Istanbul. It is one of a small group, the earliest of which was sent by the Ottoman Sultan Murad III (reg. 1574–1595) to the Austrian Emperor Rudolf II in 1582.
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