The Incredible Erotic Pottery of Peru is On Show At The Australian Museum
Image: Photos: John Moyle
With the Australian Museum’s current blockbuster Machu Picchu and the Golden Empires of Peru you could be forgiven thinking that the show was all about gold: but you would be mistaken.
Out of the 130 or so artefacts on show, there is also a wealth of ceramics of exquisite beauty that give the glittering objects a keen challenge.
Prominently displayed alongside the coveted golden treasures are a large number of ceramics that rival those found in Ancient Greece for their fine line work and form.
This show has a large number of pots from the Moche people, who were in ascendancy over a loosely-knit empire in northern Peru from about 100 to 800 AD.
Dr Jacob Bongers speaks on explicit erotic pots of Moche society of Peru
Dr Jacob Bongers is an Andean archaeologist from the University of Sydney and consultant to the Machu Picchu exhibition, which include a number of the most explicit erotic ceramics found anywhere in the world.
“These pots were produced by the Moche society around 2000 years ago and they were based on the north coast of Peru,” Bongers said.
Bongers is also referring to five pots in the show that differ from the rest in that they display explicit sexual acts or exaggerated genitalia bordering on the grotesque.
“From what we know about Greek pottery is that the Greeks used fine line forms, and you don’t see a lot of three dimensional or sculptural scenes,” Bongers said.
Many of the erotic pots in this show are full blown representations of both human body in the form of drinking pots, also known as stirrup pots were a common form of drinking vessel throughout the region.
“You have all these different figures involved in the sex act, which raises the question of what is being depicted,” Bongers said.
“What we are seeing may be the world of the dead, and that is different from the Greek pottery that mainly shows scenes from everyday life.
“Most of these pots were found in graves, and that is important,” Bongers said.
“These are some of the best pottery in the Americas and are very advanced,” he stresses.
The incredible fine line work in Peruvian pottery
There are two main types of Moche pots, one made using a mould, and then there are the fine line pottery that is similar to the Greek style.
The vessels were usually fired at a high temperature in in-ground kilns, which has the added benefit of making them resistant to breakage.
It has also helped preserve the fine lines evident in some of the pots and the brilliant colours across the range which exhibit highly polished surfaces.
“Some of the vessels were burnished, and we don’t know what tools were used, but possibly stones or ceramic fragments to rub the surface and create a more polished texture,” Bongers said.
Hematite is one pigment used, with black, red and white as the predominant colours.
“The black was a sort of manganese or carbon, while the white is made from clay, and the pigments were mixed with a clay base,” Bongers said.
Some of the other pots featured often depict a character called Ai-Apaec, the ancestor to the Moche who wears a crown with a jaguar head and bird plumes.
“You see this deity on many of the pots along with owls and often crabs,” Bongers said.
While it is the gold that glitters in Macchu Pichu and the Golden Empires of Peru, take some time out to appreciate the more grounded exhibits in the show.
“All of the Moche pots are of extremely high quality,” Bongers said. “In terms of subject matter, the pots stand on their own.”
You May Also Like
