H58xW37cm; Glazed stoneware, slumped glass inserts

The image of woman displaying herself goes back to the fertility goddess, adapted in many churches as a Sheila-na-gig, posing to exhibit her genitalia. The Church did not regard the mermaid as a fertility symbol but rather a temptress and a sinner, guilty of pride (the worst of the seven deadly sins). With her rampant vulva and her buttocks providing a mirror image of breasts, Mermayde appears more available than a full-tailed mermaid. Does she attempt to shield her vulva or use her tail to beckon the onlooker, distracting his gaze so he fails to see through her to the looking glass hidden behind her back?