
A statue of a man masturbating at Candi Sukuh in Central Java, Indonesia. Sukuh is a 15th-century Javanese-Hindu temple (candi).
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Statue_at_Candi_Sukuh.jpg

‘Ali Quli Jubbadar – painting; calligraphy
Isfahan School, Persian, 1660-1670 CE
British Museum, museum number 1920,0917,0.295
Painting; a lady offering a flower to a prince. The magnificent turban, with its jewelled and feather ornaments, identify the man as a prince; while the plunging neckline of the woman’s dress and her bare feet indicate that she is most likely a courtesan, not a princess.
Source: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1920-0917-0-295
Tags: 1660s, 17th century, Aliquli Jabbadar, British Museum, calligraphy, color, courtesan, Islamic, manuscript, painted, painting, period art, Persian, Safavid dynasty, sex worker
needupdate #historicalimage redbubble

Anonymous – Courtesan
Chinese, c. 744
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region Museum
Unearthed at the Astana Graves in 1972 from the tomb number 187
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anonymous-Astana_Graves_Courtesan1.jpg
Tags: period art color Asian Tang Dynasty sex worker 8th century painting needupdate #historicalimage

Anonymous – Courtesan
Chinese, c. 744
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region Museum
Unearthed at the Astana Graves in 1972 from the tomb number 187
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anonymous-Astana_Graves_Courtesan2.jpg
Tags: period art color Asian Tang Dynasty sex worker 8th century painting needupdate #historicalimage

Fig 10, Dancer with castanets (köçek)
From “Türkische Trachtenbilder” by Szigetvári Csöbör Balázs
Istanbul, Turkey, 1570
Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel, Codex Guelf 206 Blank fol. 15r
Tags: period art color Islamic Ottoman Turkish manuscript needupdate #historicalimage #okaytouse

Hieronymus Bosch – The Pedlar
Dutch, ca. 1500
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, accession number 1079 (OK)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hieronymus_Bosch_-_The_Wayfarer_(detail)_-_WGA2545.jpg
Source: https://www.boijmans.nl/en/collection/artworks/1556
Tags: period art color brothel Netherlands 16th century brothel needupdate #historicalimage

album; painting from Series: The Habits of the Grand Signor’s Court
Ottoman Turkish, ca. 1620
British Museum, museum number 1928,0323,0.46.108
A fahişe, or whore, wearing a dark blue-lined kaftan, red tunic, gold belt, white shoes, and tall silver headdress with a white cloth. Holding a feather fan.
Source: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1928-0323-0-46-108
Tags: period art color Islamic 17th century sex worker manuscript needupdate #historicalimage redbubble

album; painting from Series: The Habits of the Grand Signor’s Court
Ottoman Turkish, ca. 1620
British Museum, museum number 1928,0323,0.46.76
Circassian woman. Inscription below says ‘a harlot woman’.
Source: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1928-0323-0-46-76
Tags: period art color Islamic 17th century sex worker manuscript needupdate #historicalimage redbubble

Brunswick Monogrammist – Die lockere Gesellschaft (The Loose Company)
Netherlands, 1535-1540
Gemäldegalerie, Ident.Nr. 558
Source: http://www.smb-digital.de/eMuseumPlus?objectId=865839
Tags: period art color Bordellszene brothel scene sex worker 16th century painting needupdate #historicalimage

After The Brunswick Monogrammist – Entertainers in a Brothel
Dutch, about 1555
National Gallery, London, inventory number NG5577
Source: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/NG5577
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/after-the-brunswick-monogrammist-entertainers-in-a-brothel
Tags: period art color Netherlands 16th century needupdate #historicalimage

Attic Red-Figure Cup. Courtesan (Hetaira) Washing
Attic Greek, ca. 480 BCE
Michael C. Carlos Museum, object number 2003.010.001
Source:
https://collections.carlos.emory.edu/objects/10209/kylix-with-a-prostitute-preparing-to-bathe?ctx=36e44ff574b35528f13740a6b6a6d374370be76a&idx=1
http://carlos.digitalscholarship.emory.edu/items/show/6870
Tags: period art color ancient hetaera sex worker needupdate #historicalimage #okaytousewithcredit redbubble

Portrait of Chen Yuanyuan
Chinese, 17th century
Portrait of Chen Yuanyuan (1624–1681), concubine of Wu Sangui (1612–1678) renowned for her beauty.
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Chen_Yuanyuan.jpg
Tags: period art color Asian late Ming and early Qing dynasty China courtesan sex worker painting needupdate #historicalimage

Young Turkish men dancing (köçek)
Ottoman Turkish, 1575-1600
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Codex Vindobonensis 8626, fol. 118r
Source: https://onb.digital/result/10EDD89F
Tags: period art color Islamic 16th century sex worker male gnc manuscript needupdate #historicalimage #okaytouse redbubble

Fig 10, Dancer with castanets (köçek)
From “Türkische Trachtenbilder” by Szigetvári Csöbör Balázs
Istanbul, Turkey, 1570
Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel, Codex Guelf 206 Blank fol. 15r
Tags: period art color Islamic 16th century sex worker male gnc manuscript needupdate #historicalimage #okaytouse

Wouter Pietersz. Crabeth II – Card Game
Dutch, 1626
Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie, accession number M.Ob.531
Source: http://cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl/dmuseion/docmetadata?id=11333
Tags: period art color brothel 17th century procuress sex worker prostitute needupdate #historicalimage redbubble

Wouter Pietersz. Crabeth II – The Cheater
Dutch, after 1626
RKD, img.nr. 1001131574
Young courtisane playing cards with two men at a table, an old procuress in the background
Source: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/images/63299
Tags: period art color brothel 17th century prostitute sex worker needupdate #historicalimage redbubble

Jehan de Grise – Romance of Alexander
Flemish, 1338–1344
Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 264 fol. 204r
A margin scene possibly portraying negotiations between a man and a prostitute
Source: https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/inquire/p/ed1be783-b619-45fb-a69c-68359c969642
Tags: period art color 14th century manuscript needupdate #historicalimage redbubble

Nicolas de Nicolay – Cortigiana Turca
from Le Navigationi et viaggi, fatti nella Turchia
Istanbul, Turkey, 1580
Source: http://eng.travelogues.gr/item.php?view=40410
Tags: period art black and white Islamic Ottoman Turkish courtesan sex worker 16th century print needupdate #historicalimage redbubble

Nicolas de Nicolay – Habit of a Turkish courtezan in 1568. Courtisane Turque.
Ottoman Turkish, 1568
New York Public Library, UUID 510d47e4-7ece-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Source: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e4-7ece-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Tags: period art color Islamic courtesan sex worker 16th century print needupdate #historicalimage redbubble

Ding Yunpeng – Song of the Lute
Chinese, 1585
Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 13.100.22
On a chilly autumn evening in A.D. 816, the poet Bai Juyi was seeing a friend off at a ferry stop when he heard the sound of a lute drifting across the water. Following the music, he came to a boat where an aging courtesan sat issuing her plaintive song across the darkening river. Moved by the melancholy dignity of the scene, Bai wrote “Song of the Lute” in honor of the courtesan.
Source: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/35970
Tags: period art color Asian 16th century sex worker scroll painting #okaytouse

Attributed to the Dokimasia Painter – cup
Attic Greek, ca. 480 BCE
British Museum, museum number 1836,0224.173
A bearded, naked man kneels to the right, his back resting against a large folded cushion decorated with pairs of black bands with a line between, his fingertips reaching for the ground to help his balance. A naked hetaira stands on the right and slowly eases herself backwards and downwards onto the man’s erect penis, one hand resting on his ribs, the other on his hip, steadying her progress. Her hair is cut short.
Source: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/G_1836-0224-173
Tags: period art Vulci hetaera red figure pottery color ancient courtesan sex worker needupdate sex act #historicalimage redbubble

Attributed to Douris – Terracotta kylix (drinking cup)
Greek, ca. 480–470 BCE
Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 52.11.4
The interior shows a man propositioning a youth. The composition is admirable for the easy juxtaposition of the figures, the characterization of the man by the purse and of the youth by the athletic equipment on the wall, and the emphasis placed on the hands in the center.
Source: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/254696
Tags: period art male sex worker prostitution ancient gay lgbt lgbtq lgbtqiap+ same gender color ancient needupdate Achillean #historicalimage #okaytouse

Roman fresco from Pompeii. Museo Archeologico Nazionale (Naples), inv. nr. 27686
bacchanalmural
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erotic_scene_Pompeii_MAN_Napoli_Inv27686.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Napoli_MAN_27686
redbubble

Marble relief called “Alcibiades and the Hetairai/Hetaerae,” part of the Farnese Collection, is now exhibited in the “Secret Cabinet” of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, inv. 6688
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alcibiade_ed_etere_(c.d.),_collez_farnese,_copia_romana_di_originale_ellenistico,_6688.jpg
Tags: period art color ancient sex worker carving marble Roman courtesan Greek

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fellatiomoche.jpg
https://www.museolarco.org/catalogo/ficha.php?id=4288

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Figurine_(6880386385).jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A4llinge_statuette

Flanders School – L’Enfant prodigue chez les courtisanes
Flemish, around 1530
Musée Carnavalet, inventory number P619
Source: https://www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/musee-carnavalet/oeuvres/l-enfant-prodigue-chez-les-courtisanes
Tags: period art color prostitute sex worker 16th century prodigal son needupdate #historicalimage redbubble

Attributed to Gales Painter – Kylix with a Symposion Scene
Attic Greek, ca. 520–510 BCE
Yale University Art Gallery, 1913.163
The symposion, a mainstay of Greek culture with its origins in the deepest past, served an important social function for men. Reclining diners told stories, talked politics, celebrated victories, and forged relationships. Inspired by Dionysos, the god of wine, such gatherings could easily, and often did, descend into drunken, bawdy revelry. The women in attendance were not respectable matrons of good households, but rather hetairai—professional entertainers and courtesans.
Source: https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/1761
Tags: period art color ancient hetaera hetaira courtesan sex worker red figure needupdate sex act #historicalimage #okaytouse redbubble

Hendrick Goltzius – Courtesan
Holland, 1606
Hermitage Museum, inventory number ОР-3742
Source: https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/02.+drawings/223694
Tags: period art mostly black and white Dutch 17th century sex worker needupdate #historicalimage #okaytouse redbubble

Gu Quzhai 顧曲齋 – Yang Guifei Dancing
Chinese, 1573–1620
National Palace Museum
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dance_at_the_Pavilion_of_Scents.png
Tags: period art black and white Asian Ming Dynasty courtesan sex worker 16th 17th century print needupdate #historicalimage

Gu Quzhai 顧曲齋 – Yang Guifei Dancing
Chinese, 1573–1620
National Palace Museum
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dance_at_the_Pavilion_of_Scents.png
Tags: period art black and white Asian Ming Dynasty courtesan sex worker 16th 17th century print needupdate

Red-figured Kylix: Naked Woman Using Olisboi
Berezan Island, Greece, ca 520 BCE
Hermitage Museum, inventory number Б-475
Source: https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/25.+archaeological+artifacts/1137870
Tags: period art color ancient hetaera hetaira courtesan sex worker needupdate sex act Greek #historicalimage #okaytouse redbubble

Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hendrick van Balen – A Bacchanal
about 1608 ‑ 1616
Speed Art Museum, 1967.24
Source: https://www.speedmuseum.org/collections/a-bacchanal/
Tags: period art color 17th century painting bacchanalia festival celebration Dutch feast

Janí – album; painting from Series: Album of Persian Costumes and Animals with Some Drawings by Kaempfer
Isfahan School, Persian, 1684-1685 CE
British Museum, museum number 1974,0617,0.1.11
Persian mullah with a bazaar prostitute; single-page painting on an album folio. An open book lies on the mullah’s lap, as he looks at the ambivalent lady smoking from a water pipe. The prostitute wears long robes that cover both her hair and body, with painted fingers and feet. She smokes the pipe in one hand, while holding a small cup in the other.
Source: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1974-0617-0-1-11
Tags: period art color Islamic 17th century sex worker manuscript needupdate #historicalimage redbubble
![Jenský kodex [Antithesis Christi et Antichristi]
Bohemian, ca. 1490-1510
Praha, Knihovna Národního muzea, IV.B.24 fol. 78v
Source:
https://www.esbirky.cz/predmet/180453
Source: http://www.manuscriptorium.com/apps/index.php?direct=record&pid=AIPDIG-NMP___IV_B_24_____3TQMIOE-cs
Tags: period art color monks bath bathhouse sex workers prostitutes prostitution Czech 15th century manuscript Page of an illuminated manuscript depicting a nude monk lounging with his arm around a sex worker, who holds a tankard, while three more sex workers wash another monk in a tub.](https://knowneworldcourtesans.org/wp-content/uploads/cache/2020/07/4af68585cff7c47a41e713fd04c3ae2c1-e1594133330468/1206989112.jpg)
Jenský kodex [Antithesis Christi et Antichristi]
Bohemian, ca. 1490-1510
Praha, Knihovna Národního muzea, IV.B.24 fol. 78v
Source: https://www.esbirky.cz/predmet/180453
Source: http://www.manuscriptorium.com/apps/index.php?direct=record&pid=AIPDIG-NMP___IV_B_24_____3TQMIOE-cs
Tags: period art color monks bath bathhouse sex workers prostitutes prostitution Czech 15th century manuscript

Joachim Beuckelaer – Brothel
1562
Walters Art Museum, accession number 37.1784
Source: https://art.thewalters.org/detail/13900
Tags: period art color 16th century sex worker painting Flemish

The Courtesan Kosa with the King’s Charioteer: Folio from a Kalpasutra Manuscript
Gujarat, India, 15th century
Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 55.121.38.25
Source: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/75000
Tags: period art color sex worker Indian Rupkosa Kośā dancer #okaytouse

Kano Eitoku 狩野永徳 – The Chinese Emperor Minghuang and his concubine Yang Guifei, with attendants on a terrace
Japanese, 16th century
Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, accession number F1900.10
Source: https://www.si.edu/object/chinese-emperor-minghuang-and-his-concubine-yang-guifei-attendants-terrace:fsg_F1900.10
Tags: period art color Asian Muromachi or Momoyama period courtesan sex worker painting needupdate #historicalimage #okaytouse

Kano Mitsunobu 狩野 光信 – Scenes from the life of the Ming Huang Emperor and Yang Guifei
Japanese, late 16th-early 17th century
Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, accession number F1901.21
Source: https://www.si.edu/object/scenes-life-ming-huang-emperor-and-yang-guifei-one-pair-f190120:fsg_F1901.21
Tags: period art color Asian Momoyama period courtesan sex worker painting needupdate #historicalimage #okaytouse