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Weight in the Form of a Frog

A work made of copper alloy.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of copper alloy.

Date:

New Kingdom, about 1550-1069 BCE

Artist:

Egyptian

About this artwork

Ancient Egyptians used weights, like this small frog, to help calculate the value of goods. One Ancient Egyptian unit of measurement was the qedet, equivalent to about nine grams. While this piece is small, it weighs 36.1 grams, or about 4 qedets. Since some animals were associated with favorable characteristics like strength and affluence, they became a popular form for weights during the New Kingdom. The Ancient Egyptians linked frogs to fertility and rebirth, likely because of the animal’s prolific reproduction. These ties to abundance may have made frogs a suitable form for objects used to determine value.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Arts of Africa

Artist

Ancient Egyptian

Title

Weight in the Form of a Frog

Place

Egypt (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

c. 1550 BCE–1069 BCE

Medium

Copper alloy

Dimensions

2.2 × 2.3 × 2.6 cm (7/8 × 15/16 × 1 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Henry H. Getty and Charles L. Hutchinson

Reference Number

1893.23

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/135135/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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