Plaque
Unknown Artist
c. 500–200 BCE
Medium
hammered and cut gold
Dimensions
21.8 × 10.8 cm
Classification
Metalwork
Department
Art of the Americas
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1946.117
About this artwork
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.