This test platter was used for group masturbation by an 18th and 19th century gentlemen's club

This article originally appeared on Culture24.

This test platter, from the University of St Andrews, was at the centre of a bizarre act carried out by Beggar's Benison - a collective in Scotland between 1783 and 1836

The Beggar’s Benison was a gentlemen’s club fully known as The Most Ancient and Most Puissant Order of the Beggar's Benison and Merryland, Anstruther.

‘Merryland’ was a euphemism for the female body and reflected the group’s focus on erotic pleasures – symbolised by the club’s symbol of a purse tied to a phallus.

One of the more bizarre activities, used to strengthen bonds between members, involved group masturbation into this “test platter”.

• In Pursuit of Pleasure: The Polite and Impolite World of Georgian Entertainment is at Fairfax House, York until December 31 2016.

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Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/art560847-test-platter-fairfax-house-beggar-benison