In November last year, two print curators from the Rijksmuseum were perusing the showrooms of an auction house in Haarlem, northwest Netherlands, when something unexpected caught their eye: a 19th-century condom with an erotic print stretched across its parchment-colored surface.
Huigen Leeflang and Joyce Zelen had missed the listing in the catalogue and were intrigued, not only because it represented a gap in the Amsterdam museum’s collection, but also because Zelen’s doctoral work had focused on erotica. First though, they needed permission from the bosses in Amsterdam. They got it, acquiring the 1830s condom for €1,000 ($1,140), something of a steal, the curators believe. There were no other bidders.
The 200-year-old condom is now the centerpiece of “Safe Sex?” a small exhibition at the Rijksmuseum that explores 19th-century sex work and sexual health predominately through Dutch and French prints. In the interim between acquisition and display, the curators catalogued the condom (there was previously no “condom” classifier in the database) and examined it extensively under UV light (it has never been used). Their conclusion? The condom was a souvenir from an upmarket French brothel.
The condom is the centerpiece of a new exhibition “Safe Sex?” Photo: courtesy the Rijksmuseum.
The proof rests in the printed etching that presents a half-naked nun seated beside three variously endowed clergymen of differing denominations. The caption reads, “” (“there, that’s my choice”). It’s something of a three-way joke: first on celibacy in the clergy, second on the various sects of the church, and third in referencing the judgement of Paris in which the Trojan prince was forced to decide who was most beautiful among the goddesses Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena. It’s these details that has led curators to believe the condom was designed with a wealthy and well-read audience in mind.
The use of protective sheaths can be traced as far back as the ancient Egyptians; from the late 15th century on, they were predominantly made from linen, leather, or animal bladders, materials that were neither particularly comfortable nor safe. The Rijksmuseum’s condom is likely made from sheep’s appendix (though further testing is needed), and is of a kind that was available under the counter at brothels or barber shops until the introduction of vulcanized rubber condoms following its invention in the late 1830s.
The 1830s condom with a print is one of only a handful of known examples. Photo: courtesy Rijksmuseum.
To create the image, the appendix would have been laid out flat and pressed into an inked copper plate etching.
Despite its potential benefits, the use of condoms was strongly disapproved of in society, particularly by the church. “Like today there were two sides to sexuality in the 19th century,” a spokesperson for the Rijksmuseum said over email. “The pleasure on one side and the risk of sexually transmitted diseases on the other side. So this object embodies both the lighter and darker sides of sexual health, in an era when the quest for sensual pleasure was fraught with fears of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, especially syphilis.”
The condom is one of only a handful of such objects from the 19th century. In 2011, a condom from the same era sold for €12,000 (about $13,650) at the French auction house Drouot and in 2019 a pig bladder condom from 1830 sold for €2,000 ($2,275).
Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com
