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Mochica bowl that takes the form of a female body

Room E1, Vitrine E44


Ceramic
Peruvian Northern Coast
Florescent Epoch (1 AD – 800 AD)
ML004426

The body of a woman has been modeled to enable the exaggeratedly large vulva to serve as an orifice for filling the container and pouring liquids from it. The position of the woman’s body is similar to the position adopted during childbirth or during the sexual act. Symbolically, this sculptural bowl has been transformed into the vehicle through which fluids flow into the body, in the same way that the female body is inseminated, while the contents can also be poured from it, in an allusion to childbirth.