# Goldweight with a Geometric Design

- By: Asante (Ghana; Coastal West Africa)
- Date: 18th/19th century
- Medium: Copper alloy
- Classification: Decorative Arts
- Dimensions: 1.3 × 1.3 × 0.7 cm (1/2 × 1/2 × 1/4 in.)
- Culture: Ghana
- Credit line: Gift of the Britt Family Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/54017)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/daf21b00-bd26-8d5c-b09d-528dc355833b/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Akan gold weights depict both figural and abstract forms. They were cast by the Akan and Akan-related people of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire and used for weighing gold dust from the 15th to the 19th centuries. The earliest forms—like this example—were based on abstract motifs, reflecting the Islamic influence on the gold trade prior to the arrival of the Portuguese in the 1470s.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0