LONDON (AFP).- Phallic furniture, graphic ancient Roman sculptures and hardcore photographs are among the new exhibits on show at London's Sotheby's auction house ahead of a sale of sexually-charged art through the ages.

"Erotica: Passion & Desire", which opens on Saturday ahead of the sale next week, brings together over 150 titillating items to explore the varied attitudes to nudity and sex across eras and continents.

"A lot of it is depictions of the human form, some of it more graphic than others. What we see is a subject that has repeated itself throughout history," Sotheby's head of sale Constantine Frangos told AFP.

The sale is expected to raise up £5 million (5.9 million euros, $6.2 million), with a 19th-century mahogany bed decorated with a carved female nude expected to be the standout item.

"Le Lit de La Paiva" was commissioned by the richest 'demimondaine' -- or hedonist -- of Second Empire Paris, and unearthed at the famous 19th-century brothel "La Fleur Blanche", where artist Toulouse-Lautrec set up easel.

Other prestigious lots include one of only four known examples of Roman marbles depicting human couples engaged in the act, photographs by Helmut Newton, Robert Mapplethorpe and Man Ray and centuries-old Japanese and Indian erotic drawings.

"In certain cultures and different countries you had certain things that were taboo and other countries that were more liberal," explained Frangos.

"What we've seen is a huge appreciation of the human form and erotica."

Among the pieces of furniture on display is an ornate coffee table that would likely raise an eyebrow in polite society, decorated with intimate body parts, its "legs" formed from male members.

The piece was inspired by a similar piece found in the collection of Russian empress Catherine the Great.


© Agence France-Presse