Turquoise Serpent

Here's a random picture from the vault. I took this on a trip to the British Museum in 2007. It is an wooden armament probably worn across the chest during ceremonial occasions. It measures 20 cm by 43 cm (8 in by 17 in) and dates to between 1400-1521.

"Serpent imagery is common throughout the religious iconography of Mesoamerica. The serpent is associated with several Mexica deities including Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent), Xiuhcoatl (Fire Serpent) and Mixcoatl (Cloud Serpent) or Coatlicue (She of the Serpent Skirt), the mother of the Mexica god Huitzilopochtli.The habit of snakes to shed their skin each year probably led to them being used to convey ideas concerning renewal and transformation. Likewise the ability of many species to move freely between water, earth and the forest canopy helped underline their symbolic role as intermediaries between the different layers of the cosmos (underworld, earth and sky)." (Source: British Museum) Aside from being a beautiful piece of art its also a powerful symbolic object that can be used as inspiration in many different RPG games. This could be a magical artifact in a D&D game or a priceless religious icon in a HEX game. There are many more objects like this in the Mesoamerican section and together they form one of the highlights of the British Museum.