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Goldweight with a Geometric Pattern
Asante (Ghana; Coastal West Africa)
18th/19th century
- Medium
- Copper alloy
- Classification
- Decorative Arts
- Dimensions
- 0.3 × 3.2 × 3.2 cm (1/8 × 1 1/4 × 1 1/4 in.)
- Culture
- Ghana
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Africa
- Credit line
- Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
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
