It is neither a painting nor a sculpture. It's a 19th-century condom, made from a sheep's appendix and printed with an erotic image of a nun and three aroused clergymen, now on public display for the first time in Amsterdam.
Measuring under eight inches, the condom is in "mint condition". UV testing revealed it hasn't been used, says Joyce Zelen, curator of prints at the museum in the Netherlands.
Believed to have been a luxury souvenir from an 1830 brothel, "It makes it more of an object to laugh about with your friends than an actual object to use," Ms Zelen told CNN.
The scene etched onto the condom is explicit and deeply ironic. A nun, legs open, is flanked by three clergymen lifting their robes, exposing their erections. The phrase 'Voila mon choix' (This is my choice) is scrawled underneath.
"It shows a sort of parody on religious celibacy, but the composition is also clearly a joke on the Judgment of Paris [the Prince of Troy], where he chooses the most beautiful of the three Greek goddesses before him," Ms Zelen told Hyperallergic. "For me, that underlines the potential clientele for such a luxury condom with a print. They were probably a wealthy and well-read person."
Ms Zelen explained that the design was printed using a copper plate on the flattened intestine of a sheep or goat. While this particular example wasn't intended for use, condoms from the era were typically made with similar materials and offered minimal protection against unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections like syphilis, a major health concern at the time.
The rare object was acquired by the museum for 1000 Netherlands Euros (around Rs 98,000) at a Haarlem auction six months ago.
The price wasn't the awkward part. "We came to the point where we had to decide: 'Which of us is going to call our boss to ask if we can buy a condom?' And yeah, that was me," Ms Zelen said.
The condom is now part of the museum's new exhibit titled 'Safe Sex?', which explores 19th-century prostitution, desire, and disease. And this artefact sits at the centre of it.
The condom will remain on display in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum's Print Room until the end of November.
