Cleveland Museum of Art

Plaque

Date: c. 500–200 BCE
Medium: hammered and cut gold
Culture: Peru, North Coast, Chongoyape(?), Chavín style (900-200 BCE)
Department: Art of the Americas
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 117824

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

These plaques showing a powerful Chavín deity may come from a group of gold objects found in a lavish tomb in the 1920s. One is shaped as the deity’s fanged head, its fur transformed into sixteen serpents that edge the plaque. On the other, the deity’s visually elusive body also appears: the clawed hands over the chest may clutch a horizontal staff, an emblem of authority; across the waist is a belt that sprouts serpents; and beneath are the legs and feet, which stand atop fanged masks. Hammered gold ornaments have been produced in the Andes since 1500 BCE.

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Provenance & credit

As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.

Credit line: Dudley P. Allen Fund
Provenance: ?-1938: Baron Walram von Schoeler, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 1938-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Part of a LinkedCulture topic

Pre-Columbian Body Adornment
These objects are personal ornaments and jewelry worn by ancient Mesoamerican and Andean cultures, including ear ornaments, nose ornaments, plaques, and costume decorations made from precious metals, stone, shell, and ce
359 objects from 4 institutions