Goldweight with a Geometric Design
Asante
18th/19th century
Medium
Copper alloy
Dimensions
0.7 × 1.3 × 1.3 cm (1/4 × 1/2 × 1/2 in.)
Classification
gold-weight
Department
Arts of Africa
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
54017
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
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.