Disk-Shaped Chest Plaque (c. 700–1550): Art, History and Details

Disk-Shaped Chest Plaque (c. 700–1550) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Technologically, this pectoral (chest plaque) is unlike the other gold shown in this case. Rather than being cast of molten metal, it was made by hammering metal into a thin sheet. Costa Rican and Panamanian metalsmiths favored casting, but they were skilled in hammering, a technology better suited to creating large objects with glittering, reflective surfaces. The import of the breast-like protrusions is unknown.

Object facts

• Title: Disk-Shaped Chest Plaque
• Date: c. 700–1550
• Culture: Costa Rica or Panama
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: hammered gold
• Dimensions: Overall: 19.8 x 19.6 x 2.5 cm (7 13/16 x 7 11/16 x 1 in.)
• Collection: AA - Intermediate Region
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1950.386

Collection credit

Gift of Mrs. Newton D. Baker in memory of her husband, Newton D. Baker

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.