{"id":1043,"date":"2017-12-14T23:36:34","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T18:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/?p=1043"},"modified":"2017-12-15T00:02:45","modified_gmt":"2017-12-14T18:32:45","slug":"kuppi-fading-vessel-art-perfumery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/museumofmaterialmemory.com\/kuppi-fading-vessel-art-perfumery\/","title":{"rendered":"Kuppi, a fading vessel in the art of perfumery"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY AANCHAL MALHOTRA<\/strong>
\n New Delhi & Kannauj, India\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Originally made from camel skin and later goat skin, these flask-like bottles are called Kuppis. On page 122 in an old Pashto-English dictionary compiled by Henry Water Bellew, and published in 1901 by Rai Sahib M. Gulab Singh & Sons, Lahore, the word is described as\u00a0qutta-\u012b, A powder flask (made of untanned leather), s. (kuppi)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Henry<\/p>\n

Kuppis were used by attar-makers and preferred due to their permeability towards water. After the attar was ready, it was poured into these bottles – usually very large in size, able to hold volumes of liquid- and left to macerate. Traditional perfumers believe that an attar not stored in the kuppi was \u2018essentially ruined\u2019.\u00a0The leather would absorb any extra moisture, allowing water to evaporate and only attar in its truest scent, to remain.<\/p>\n

The shape of every Kuppi varies- no two are the same- revealing beautiful evidences of the handmade. Someone has lovingly shaped each vessel with their fingers, skillfully folding and sealing layer upon layer to create its elegant shape. For the most part, each Kuppi has a long neck and a very round body. Their texture is simultaneously leathery and brittle, and once devoid of liquid, they look almost translucent under the light. Their outer surface is a web of faint and dark veins, which intersect across the moulded leather.<\/p>\n