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View at the museum ↗Goldweight Depicting a Fan
Asante19th/mid–20th century
- Attribution
- Asante or related Akan-speaking peoples Ghana Coastal West Africa
- Medium
- Copper alloy
- Physical dimensions
- 1.3 × 2.3 × 3.8 cm (1/2 × 7/8 × 1 1/2 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman
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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 weights emerged, although abstract weights continued to be made. Although used in economic transactions, the individual pieces could also function symbolically as indicators of wealth when placed on display. This weight in the form of a fan is part of a series of weights that relate to life in Ghana and the Côte d’Ivoire and depict furniture, cooking equipment, weapons and tools, hunting and agricultural implements, and paraphernalia related to chieftaincy. Various gold weights continued to be used until around 1900, at which point gold mining was brought under European control and colonial coinage replaced the gold-dust currency.
Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0