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LOT 0096

Moche Bi-Chrome Stirrup Vessel w/ Erotic Scene & Xray

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Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Moche, Phase III to IV, ca. 400 to 500 CE. An eye-opening example of a hand-built and highly burnished pottery stirrup vessel displaying a male and female couple engaging in sexual intercourse. The vessel features a round but stable base, a drum-shaped body decorated with inverted cresting waves, a planar shoulder surmounted by the tantric twosome, and a stirrup-shaped handle topped with a cylindrical spout bearing a slightly flared lip. The couple lays their heads atop a padded 'pillow' while the man grasps one of the woman's breasts as he attempts to insert his phallus into her rectum. Scholars have suggested that this level of explicitness was intended to be didactic rather than solely titillating. Size: 7.125" L x 5.1" W x 5.625" H (18.1 cm x 13 cm x 14.3 cm)

For another example of an erotic stirrup vessel from the Moche, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 65.266.62.

Provenance: ex-Barakat Gallery, Beverly Hills, California, USA, acquired prior to 2000

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

We ship worldwide to most countries and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.

#153766
Condition Report: Minor abrasions and nicks to spout, figures, body, and base, with fading and darkening to areas of original pigmentation, and light encrustations, otherwise intact and near-choice. Nice remains of original pigment throughout. Old inventory label beneath base. This piece has been examined via X-ray analysis and found to be fully intact.

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[ translate ]

Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Moche, Phase III to IV, ca. 400 to 500 CE. An eye-opening example of a hand-built and highly burnished pottery stirrup vessel displaying a male and female couple engaging in sexual intercourse. The vessel features a round but stable base, a drum-shaped body decorated with inverted cresting waves, a planar shoulder surmounted by the tantric twosome, and a stirrup-shaped handle topped with a cylindrical spout bearing a slightly flared lip. The couple lays their heads atop a padded 'pillow' while the man grasps one of the woman's breasts as he attempts to insert his phallus into her rectum. Scholars have suggested that this level of explicitness was intended to be didactic rather than solely titillating. Size: 7.125" L x 5.1" W x 5.625" H (18.1 cm x 13 cm x 14.3 cm)

For another example of an erotic stirrup vessel from the Moche, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 65.266.62.

Provenance: ex-Barakat Gallery, Beverly Hills, California, USA, acquired prior to 2000

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

We ship worldwide to most countries and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.

#153766
Condition Report: Minor abrasions and nicks to spout, figures, body, and base, with fading and darkening to areas of original pigmentation, and light encrustations, otherwise intact and near-choice. Nice remains of original pigment throughout. Old inventory label beneath base. This piece has been examined via X-ray analysis and found to be fully intact.

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Sale price
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Estimate
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Time, Location
09 Apr 2020
USA, Louisville, CO
Auction House
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