Art Institute of Chicago

Goldweight with a Geometric Pattern

Asante or related Akan-speaking peoples

Date

18th/19th century

Medium

Copper alloy

Culture

Ghana

Department

Arts of Africa

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

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 rectangular gold weight has an abstract pattern of four repeating parallel bars with two sets of shorter, rectangular bars perpendicularly at one end of the weight. In addition to the weights, other apparatuses used in the time-consuming process of weighing gold included scales, spoons, shovels, storage boxes, and brushes.

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