Room E2, Vitrine E28
Ceramic
Mochica
Peruvian Northern Coast
Florescent Epoch (1 AD – 800 AD)
ML004306, ML004335, ML004339, ML004342, ML004344.
A male inhabitant of the underworld is depicted engaged in a sexual act with a woman from the earthly world. The woman possesses the same attributes as the woman shown copulating with a deity and can be seen as representing Mother Earth, or Pachamama. In some scenes, the cadaverous man grips the woman by the chin; this gesture is an allusion to the intention of connecting the three worlds, because the jawbone is step shaped, and the step motif is the symbol of the three connected worlds: Hanan Pacha, the celestial world; the earthly world, or Kay Pacha; and Uku Pacha, the underworld.