Goldweight with a Geometric Design

Arts of Africa

18th/19th century

Asante or related Akan-speaking peoples
Ghana
Coastal West Africa

This rectangular brass-cast gold weight is crisscrossed by the swastika form. The designs of gold weights are incredibly diverse—consisting of simple geometric designs in either high or low relief to representational sculptural forms based on items essential to West African life. Gold weights were used to measure gold dust, the local currency in the Akan-speaking regions of southern Ghana and the Ivory Coast between the 15th and the 20th centuries.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Asante
Title: Goldweight with a Geometric Design
Place: Ghana (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.: 1700–1899
Medium: Copper alloy
Dimensions: 0.5 × 1.2 × 1.4 cm (3/16 × 1/2 × 9/16 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Gottlieb
Reference Number: 1979.2
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/55206/manifest.json

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Gottlieb, Chicago, Ill., by 1979; given to the Art Institute, 1979.

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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.

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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.

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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.