Art Institute of Chicago
Goldweight with a Geometric Pattern
Asante or related Akan-speaking peoplesLinkedCulture matchlcp-0fe307805012
- Date
- 18th/19th century
- Medium
- Copper alloy
- Culture
- Ghana
- Department
- Arts of Africa
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 193088
From the Art Institute of Chicago record
The relatively complex design of this gold weight consists of two comb-like elements attached to a pair spirals by a central stem. It is almost a perfect square in format. These weights were used to measure gold dust, the local currency in the Akan-speaking regions of southern Ghana and the Côte d’Ivoire between the 15th and the 20th centuries. Made of a copper alloy, the gold weights enabled merchants to carry out trade in towns of the West African Sahel and, prior to the arrival of the Europeans in the late 15th century, North Africa.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman
- Provenance
- Muriel Kallis Newman (died 2008), Chicago, Ill., by 1980; given to the Art Institute, 2007.
Linked open data
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- Object type
- AAT300411641
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