Plaque with Crocodile Deity
Brooklyn Museum photograph
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Some scholars assert that the gold plaques produced by the ancient Coclé people of present-day Panama are the most beautiful hammered and embossed gold objects from the ancient Americas. Artists created these embossed designs by hammering a gold sheet against a mold; this plaque, dominated by an anthropomorphic reptilian figure known as the Crocodile God, exemplifies the tradition. The deity is surrounded by two smaller reptilian creatures, and the triangular forms around the plaque’s border emulate the animal’s protective, ridgelike scales.
A principal deity in the broader Central American region for more than a thousand years, the Crocodile God was likely associated with strength, the sun, water, and fertility. In the Coclé culture, embossed gold plaques were power objects and status symbols. Sixteenth-century Spanish explorers described how Indigenous male leaders wore plaques on their chests when going into battle. These plaques were pierced so they could be attached to garments. By depicting mythical beings, the ornaments enhanced the wearer’s power and connected him to the supernatural realm. Crocodiles may have also been associated with the underworld due to their ability to float on water and drag their prey to drown beneath its surface.
Object Label
In Panama, the crocodile god, likely associated with strength, the sun, water, and fertility, was the principal deity for more than a thousand years. The ruling elite probably wore prestige ornaments such as this one to imbue themselves with the power of crocodiles, fierce animals connected to the underworld for their ability to float on water and drag their prey underneath to drown it. The crocodilian being on this plaque may be a creator god or a transformative image of the wearer.
Caption
Coclé. Plaque with Crocodile Deity, ca. 700–900. Gold (tumbaga), 8 1/2 x 9 in. (21.6 x 22.9 cm) mount (Support board prepared in 2012): 10 1/2 x 11 x 1 1/4 in. (26.7 x 27.9 x 3.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1931, Museum Collection Fund, 33.448.12. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 33.448.12_SL1.jpg)
Tags
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Culture
Title
Plaque with Crocodile Deity
Date
ca. 700–900
Geography
Place found: Sitio Conte, Cocle Province, Panama
Medium
Gold (tumbaga)
Classification
Dimensions
8 1/2 x 9 in. (21.6 x 22.9 cm) mount (Support board prepared in 2012): 10 1/2 x 11 x 1 1/4 in. (26.7 x 27.9 x 3.2 cm)
Credit Line
Museum Expedition 1931, Museum Collection Fund
Accession Number
33.448.12
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
Tell me more.
According to Spanish accounts from the sixteenth century, chiefs and other elite members of the native Panamanian society had the privilege of wearing gold ornaments, including large gold plaques like this on, which served as breastplates and were probably sewn onto garments. If you look closely, you will see the small pierced holes.The Crocodile God was the principal deity for more than a thousand years and was most likely associated with strength, the sun and water, and fertility.
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