Moche erotic ceramics celebrate the wide scope of human sexual activity. On one level, these vessels evoke worldly pleasures in all its variety, but their larger spiritual implications concern fertility and continuity of human life. Atop this splendid vessel, a man and a woman are engaged in fellatio. The man, who wears the helmet of a warrior, sits on a stool or a dais; even on so small a scale, the artist seems to have captured the intensity of his pleasure. The unusual stepped motifs which circle the vessel suggest that this may be someone of rank, for they abstractly resemble the thrones on which kings and priests sat during ritual ceremonies. It is the unblushing tone of such scenes that takes the modern viewer off guard; they speak of a society very accepting of the sensual realities of life.