Smiling God Plaque

The "Smiling God" plaque takes a Huastec figure - the smiling deity of the Gulf Coast cultures - and renders it in silver against a blue center within a black wood frame. The choice of subject reflects Spratling's habit of drawing on specific pre-Columbian sources, translating them into modern form for an American audience as Stromberg describes (p. 27).

Like its companion plaques, it presents silver relief as wall-mounted sculpture, the colored ground setting off the metal. The design was carried into the 1965 traveling exhibition "The World of William Spratling."

With no scholarly reference recorded, the plaque is documented chiefly through its exhibition history. Such figural plaques are an uncommon part of the workshop's range.