diff --git a/clutter/cogl/cogl-material.h b/clutter/cogl/cogl-material.h
index 6bcfeb3f7..949daed20 100644
--- a/clutter/cogl/cogl-material.h
+++ b/clutter/cogl/cogl-material.h
@@ -52,7 +52,16 @@ CoglHandle cogl_material_ref (CoglHandle handle);
  */
 void cogl_material_unref (CoglHandle handle);
 
-
+/**
+ * cogl_is_material:
+ * @handle: A CoglHandle
+ *
+ * Gets whether the given handle references an existing material object.
+ *
+ * Returns: %TRUE if the handle references a #CoglMaterial,
+ *   %FALSE otherwise
+ */
+gboolean cogl_is_material (CoglHandle handle);
 
 /**
  * cogl_material_set_color:
diff --git a/doc/reference/cogl/cogl-sections.txt b/doc/reference/cogl/cogl-sections.txt
index 3578c2d8e..432ef75bf 100644
--- a/doc/reference/cogl/cogl-sections.txt
+++ b/doc/reference/cogl/cogl-sections.txt
@@ -330,6 +330,7 @@ cogl_matrix_scale
 cogl_material_new
 cogl_material_ref
 cogl_material_unref
+cogl_is_material
 cogl_material_set_color
 cogl_material_set_color4ub
 cogl_material_set_color4f