A Peruvian mayor has raised eyebrows by erecting a large statue depicting a manhood in his office.

Trujillo mayor Arturo Fernandez Bazan recently installed the ‘huaco erotico’ next to the staircase inside the Municipal Palace in Peru’s third most populous city.

Huacos eroticos – or erotic pottery – are a type of ceramic vessel or sculpture that depicts sexual acts or explicit sexual imagery.

They were created by various ancient cultures in South America, including the Moche and Chimu civilisations in what is now Peru.

Snaps show how the statue resembles both an upright manhood and a hatted individual covering his mouth with one hand, with the face located on the frenulum.

A journalist recently quizzed Fernandez Bazan on why he had replaced the previous ‘caballitos de totora’ with the huaco erotico.

She remarked: “Mayor, on the other hand, we have seen that you have placed a wooden structure here at the Provincial Municipality of Trujillo.”

But before she could finish, the mayor cheekily replied: “And did you like it or not?”

Caballitos de totora are traditional watercraft made from woven reeds – or ‘totora’ -that are used for fishing and transportation along the coasts of Peru and other parts of South America.

Many have since criticised the mayor’s reply as male chauvinist.

This is not the first time Peru has hit headlines for its racy statues.

Last year, authorities in Moche District, Trujillo Province, restored a large huaco depicting an indigenous man with a huge erect member after it was vandalised.

They also installed a smaller companion alongside it, as seen in these images.

Moche mayor Cesar Arturo Fernandez said at the time: “In our culture, they do not represent eroticism, but reverence to God.

“In addition, sexuality must be seen as something normal and natural.”