Old Enamelled Silver Kohl Flask

Made in Meknes, a very old and rare silver kohl flask, handsomely enamelled in a blue and green curvilinear floral pattern. Known in Morocco as “Guza”, meaning either “nut” or “nutmeg” and derived from a medieval Arabic name for any hard-shelled tropical nut. Such flasks were originally used for either chewing or sniffing tobaccos, but the introduction of cigarettes resulted in a change in their usage to women’s kohl or scents. Unlike the larger, flat-bottomed flasks meant for home use, a guza such as this would have been carried with the owner.