Hot Sleepy Horny Hungry

Another from the sketchbooks of NYC this past November. My task (a field trip for an article on this incredible project) took me to the Met, which I honestly hadn’t stepped foot in for a long time. This sketch wasn’t from the Metropolitan Museum though—it’s based on an object at The Met Cloisters. And I didn’t even see it in person, I just became transfixed by the image of it that popped up on advertisements on my phone the minute my aircraft touched down at JFK. The ads were for the exhibit Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages, and this object was the poster child.

It’s such a kinky little teapot (or rather, aquamanile—a vessel for hand washing). I guess the body of Aristotle is hollow to hold water, and Phyllis, so casually, with absolute nonchalance, riding the whipped philosopher. The glazed expression on their matte metallic eyes is unnerving. Though judging from the expression on Aristotle’s expression, it would appear that he was born to be rode…