< Back to Sexual union and fertility

Union between Aia Paec and a woman

Room E1, Vitrine E11


Ceramic
Peruvian Northern Coast
Florescent Epoch (1 AD – 800 AD)
ML004359, ML004362, ML006491, ML008186, ML008208.

“This scene shows the deity engaged in intercourse, this time in open countryside and not beneath the roof of a shelter. A small dwelling can be seen. A mutilated man stands guard on the roof. His lips, nose and feet have been amputated. In his hands he holds a warrior’s mace. Another mutilated figure sits in the doorway of the house. […] A shrub emerges from the woman’s genitalia. Its branches are heavy with oval fruits through which a split runs down the middle, recalling female genitalia. Among the branches, a troop of monkeys uses bags to gather the fruit from the bush that has been fertilized by the deity. In front of Aia Paec are a stirrup-handled vessel and a box, apparently destined to hold the fruit from the symbolic plant, together with a two-headed snake. The snake motif is repeated three times on the vessel. Walking towards the deity, one behind the other, are two men and a woman. The first man is carrying a small vessel. The second man wears around his neck a human trophy head, or a bag in the form of a trophy head. The last of the three figures approaching the deity is a woman. She, too, is carrying a small vessel, and on her back she is carrying a child. The three figures approach with raised arms, apparently making an offering.” (Rafael Larco Hoyle, Checán, pp. 103-104)