File:Post Medieval, Incomplete erotic scene pipe tamper (FindID 582198).jpg

English: An incomplete copper alloy pipe tamper, dating to the Post-Medieval period, c. AD 1700-1850.

The tamper is freestanding, consisting of a cylindrical base and stem with cast moulding, reminiscent of a candlestick in shape, with a flat panel body depicting the scene in relief. The scene shows an incomplete cave or tree, with a very slightly crescentic base/ground with shallow hatched grooves, possibly indicating grass. A tree or cave wall emerges from the ground on the righthand side of the scene, with a torch on its surface angled slightly inward. The top of the tree/cave is incomplete, with the canopy/roof missing, presumed lost in antiquity. Standing on the ground and beneath the canopy area, a male and female figure are depicted engaged in sexual intercourse. The female's buttocks are pressed against the tree/caveside, and she is supporting her weight on one leg (her right leg) while the left leg is raised and supported by the cradling arm of the male. Her upper torso is leaning forward, kissing the male and her arms appear to be wrapped around the back of the man, passing beneath his arms. The male stands on both feet, the right leg bent slightly back, his arm cradling the woman's left leg as his phallus penetrates the woman. The reverse is undecorated and flat.

The pipe tamper measures 56.4 mm tall, 28.6 mm wide and 13.2 mm thick. The tamper base has a diameter of 13.2 mm. It weighs 21.8 g.

The bawdy or erotic scene depicted can be found on other pipe tampers, some with the same scene (NCL-739535, SF-EE2934, SUR-9657B6 and WILT-FE9706) and others of the same genre but with different scenes depicted. If not a scene portraying rustic romance, it may be depicting the consummation of Aeneas and Dido in the cave during a hunt while caught in a storm. The background scene may be either a cave or a forest, the cave being the actual location of the consummation, the forest alluding to the hunt during which the episode took place. If the latter, this would place the pipe tamper in both the classicizing examples of such objects, as well as the bawdy.