Uncouth badge, Netherlands, 1400-1450.
Depicts a woman with a garden wheelbarrow carrying a crop of three falcons. At the same time, she walks on a giant penis on legs that serves as a walkway - a hint of female lust and desire. The scene is probably metaphorical and ironic, not literal.
These unchaste badges disrupt common notions of medieval chastity and fear of the 'sinful flesh'. Yet motifs of explicit sexuality are also encountered in sacred art - even in churches. Badges with erotic-satirical imagery were popular and widespread.
One hypothesis is that the motifs of phalluses and vulvas had a protective function - they were meant to ward off evil forces, bewitchment and other threats. They were not objects of worship, but amuletic symbols associated with fertility, happiness and prosperity. In the Middle Ages, the ancient idea that the phallus protected against evil and brought good fortune still persisted (e.g. the raised middle finger was seen as protective).
In the 14th and 15th centuries, genitalia commonly appeared on small metal badges, which archaeologists now find by the hundreds in the Netherlands, northern France and England.
Based on the book "Sieraad en devotie in middeleeuws Vlaanderen" by Jose Kolderweij.
Cast in brass. Dimensions: 57 × 50 mm.
- Made in Ukraine by Armour and Castings
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