Moche Stirrup Vessel Depicting an Erotic Scene

Atop this ancient vessel, a man and woman engage in exuberant sexual activity, intended for burial in tombs. Such scenes might have been meant to evoke life’s sensual pleasures in the hereafter. These intimate scenes also might represent the promise of fertility and renewal to come. Their directness seems startling, even by modern standards. Yet there is something timeless and eternal about them too; they remind us that the essentials of life continue no matter what other changes civilization might bring.