Plaque (c. 500–200 BCE): Art, History and Details

Plaque (c. 500–200 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

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.

Object facts

• Title: Plaque
• Date: c. 500–200 BCE
• Culture: Peru, North Coast, Chongoyape(?), Chavín style (900-200 BCE)
• Type: Jewelry
• Technique: hammered and cut gold
• Dimensions: Overall: 12.5 x 13.8 cm (4 15/16 x 5 7/16 in.)
• Collection: AA - Andes
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1938.431

A detail from the museum

Hammered gold ornaments have been produced in the Andes since 1500 BCE.

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Milliken, William. "Two Chavin Vessels." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 42, no. 9 (November 1955): 203-205.

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.