Bed-sharing

Room 4, Vitrine 27

• In these sculptural clay bottles, the ancestral practice of bed-sharing is depicted, in which infants sleep with their parents. The couple is shown engaging in intercourse while the mother breastfeeds the child.
• In most such scenes, anal penetration is depicted. This non-reproductive sexual practice may be associated with the temporary postpartum infertility linked to breastfeeding.
• Moche culture, Florescent Epoch (1 AD – 800 AD), ML004213, ML004220, ML004233.

ML004220

ML004220