Tracing Patterns Foundation

Morocco Water Seller’s Bag at the Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, California. Gift of The David Poiry Trust, 2022.4.1

Caption: Made of leather and adorned with coins from around the world, such bags are traditionally worn by Moroccan water sellers, who provided a vital service before modern plumbing became widespread in the city. The coins come from all over the world, making the bag both a record of the water seller’s life and a testament to Morocco as a cultural crossroads.

Photograph of the water seller dressed in traditional attire is by Ellen Rooney, taken in Marrakech, Morocco, 2012.

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