Amsterdam’s world-famous Rijksmuseum has unveiled a rare and provocative new addition to its collection: a near-200-year-old condom, adorned with erotic artwork, which is now on display to the public as part of a new exhibition: Safe Sex?.
The unusual artifact, believed to have been created around 1830 from a sheep appendix, is an intriguing glimpse into the social attitudes towards sexuality and contraception in the 19th century.
The condom features an explicit etching that depicts a partially undressed nun sitting with legs apart, gesturing towards three clergymen who are exposing their arousal under lifted robes. At the bottom of the image, the French phrase Voilà mon choix (“This is my choice”) is seen—a reference to The Judgment of Paris, the classical myth in which the Trojan prince Paris must choose the fairest of three goddesses. This combination of religious parody and sexual innuendo encapsulates the blend of humor and critique embedded in the object.
Thought to be a “luxury souvenir” from a high-end Parisian brothel, this condom is one of just two such examples of its kind to survive into the modern era. Before vulcanized rubber was discovered in 1839, condoms were made out of materials like linen, animal membranes, or turtle shells. While they offered little in the way of protection, these kinds of objects were both practical and symbolic, conveying desires, fears, and social taboos of the time.
The object was acquired at auction in Haarlem in late 2024 for €1,000 with the support of the F.G. Waller Fonds. It now takes center stage in the museum’s Print Room exhibition, which highlights 19th-century sex, prostitution, and sexual health through a collection of Dutch and French prints, drawings, and photographs.
“It represents 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,” said the museum in a press release.
The Rijksmuseum, the Netherlands’ national museum, houses over one million works of art, among them some of the most renowned paintings by Dutch masters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Hals. Over 750,000 prints, drawings, and photos are stored in its Print Room alone. It is the first time a print has been bought by the museum on a condom.
The Safe Sex? exhibition is currently open and will run until the end of November 2025.
