Goldweight with a Geometric Design

Art Institute of Chicago

Goldweight with a Geometric Design

Asante or related Akan-speaking peoples

Date
18th/19th century
Medium
Copper alloy
Culture
Ghana
Department
Arts of Africa
Institution
Art Institute of Chicago

This rectangular brass-cast gold weight is crisscrossed by the swastika form. The designs of gold weights are incredibly diverse—consisting of simple geometric designs in either high or low relief to representational sculptural forms based on items essential to West African life. Gold weights were used to measure gold dust, the local currency in the Akan-speaking regions of southern Ghana and the Ivory Coast between the 15th and the 20th centuries.

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Object type
AAT300411641

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