This condom is a real work of art

The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam is one of the most important cultural institutions in Europe. The Dutch National Museum has seven -digit visitors every year. The inventory includes around one million objects, including world -famous paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer. Several thousand works of art are on display. In addition, special shows, currently to American photography.

But not only real classics and works of well -known masters can be seen in the halls of the building complex. Recently there is also a valuable condom among the exhibition objects that has been around for almost 200 years.

The anti -Servative dates from 1830, was probably made from the appendix of a sheep and shows an erotic etching on which a nun and three clergymen are depicted. As the Rijksmuseum reports, it is assumed that the condom was a kind of souvenir from a brothel. So far, two such objects have only been known to the experts.

The figures shown carry spiritual robes, but behave extremely secular: the nun is sitting and depicted with spread legs. It points to the group of clergymen who present their erect limbs with one hand. A inscription – « Mon Choix » – makes it clear that an uncle game is played here.

The art object was bought by the museum at an auction six months ago and has only been examined by visitors since this week. For the art experts of the National Museum, the condom is not only a crowd puller, but also an important expansion of the collection. « It embodies both the bright and dark sides of sexual health at a time when the striving for sensual pleasure was associated with the fear of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases – especially syphilis. »

The property is currently on display in the copper engraving cabinet and part of an exhibition on prostitution and sexuality in the 19th century, which will still be shown in the Rijksmuseum until the end of November.