200-year-old condom decorated with erotic art goes on display in Amsterdam museum
Prophylactic on show in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum bears the phrase ‘This is my choice’ and an erotic image of a nun and three clergymen
The Netherlands’ national museum has a new object on display that merges art with Amsterdam’s infamous red-light district: a nearly 200-year-old condom, emblazoned with erotic art.
The Rijksmuseum said the playful prophylactic, believed to have been made around 1830 from a sheep’s appendix, “depicts both the playful and the serious side of sexual health”.
It is part of an exhibition called “Safe Sex?” about 19th-century sex work that opened on June 3.
The condom, possibly a souvenir from a brothel, is decorated with an erotic image of a nun and three clergymen.
The phrase “This is my choice” is written along the sheath in French. According to the museum, this is a reference to the Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting The Judgment of Paris, which depicts the Trojan prince Paris judging a beauty contest between three goddesses.