H x W x D: 2.8 x 3.5 x 1.4 cm (1 1/8 x 1 3/8 x 9/16 in.)
Type:
Sculpture
Geography:
Ghana
Côte d'Ivoire
Date:
18th-late 19th century
Label Text:
Although often identified with the Asante of Ghana, the most numerous and best known of the Akan peoples, 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, Akan smiths cast weights of immense diversity. Their small size made them portable and easy to trade. Each weight was cast individually in the lost-wax method. What resulted was a unique piece, but one that had to be a specific weight to function. The shape or figure of a weight did not correspond to a set unit of measure: a porcupine in one set could equal an antelope in another or a geometric form in a third. For important transactions, gold dust was placed on one side of a small, handheld balance scale, a weight on the other. Each party to the dealing verified the amount of gold dust using his or her own weights.
Visually, weights fall into two distinct categories: geometric and figurative. Stylistically they are divided into early (c. 1400-1700) and late (c. 1700-1900) periods. Although some geometric weights were made in the late period, figurative weights increased in both number and variety. Generally, late-period figurative weights have added details and textures beyond the basic form that would identify the subject. This object is a late-period figurative weight in the form of the Sankofa bird. It refers to proverbs about the wisdom of looking back to know how to go forward.
Most weights were not commissioned to make a point or tell a story. Weights may act as display pieces implying wealth in both the size of individual weights and the number owned. This is reinforced by the presence of pseudoweights, objects that do not meet weight requirements but are appealing in appearance (such as tax seals and bits of European metalwork like drawer pulls).
Description:
Cast copper alloy figurative weight in the form of a bird looking backwards, also known as a sankofa. The bird's neck is twisted, and it has a hornbill and bent legs.
Provenance:
Emil J. Arnold, New York, -- to 1968
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