Scenes of masturbation
Room 5, Vitrine 38
• In one of these pieces, a cadaverous man, an inhabitant of the underworld, is being masturbated by a woman. This occurs in the world of the dead, as indicated by the step symbol on one of the walls of the vessel, and by the painted ceremonial vessels, which are funerary offerings. Painted next to the couple, we see a bowl with a handle, used for toasting corn and known as a “canchero”.
• These cancheros are ceremonial vessels, probably used in propitiation rites to receive real or symbolic semen. In these vessels, the woman is shown as the recipient, and the orifice through which the liquid enters is her vagina.
• Moche culture, Florescent Epoch (1 AD – 800 AD), ML004200, ML004219, ML004341.
ML004341