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View at the museum ↗Goldweight with a Geometric Pattern
Asante18th/19th century
- Attribution
- Asante or related Akan-speaking peoples Ghana Coastal West Africa
- Medium
- Copper alloy
- Physical dimensions
- 0.3 × 3.2 × 3.2 cm (1/8 × 1 1/4 × 1 1/4 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman
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Source rights statement: Public domain
View the museum record ↗From the museum
Weights for measuring gold dust were made and used throughout Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire for more than five centuries, from about 1400 to 1900. These weights are either figurative or abstract and are usually divided into an early period (c. 1400–1700) and a late period (c. 1700–1900). During the late period, an increased variety and number of figurative and abstract weights emerged, although abstract weights continued to be the most common. This gold weight is almost a perfect square and displays a gridded diagonal pattern across its surface. In addition to gold weights, other apparatuses used in the time-consuming process of weighing gold included scales, spoons, shovels, storage boxes, and brushes.
Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0