H x W x D: 1.2 x 2.9 x 2.7 cm (1/2 x 1 1/8 x 1 1/16 in.)
Type:
Sculpture
Geography:
Côte d'Ivoire
Ghana
Date:
15th-early 18th century
Label Text:
Although often identified with the Asante, 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. This object is an early period geometric weight. Most early weights are geometric with notched or indented edges, incised surfaces, punch marks and inset copper plugs. Although geometric weights were still made during 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.
Description:
Cast copper alloy square geometric weight with a central circular cut out and beveled notched edges.
Provenance:
Philip Ravenhill, collected in Côte d'Ivoire, 1972-1974 to 1996
Exhibition History:
Gifts to the National Collection of African Art, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., September 17, 1997-January 4, 1998
Published References:
Ravenhill, Philip. 1998. Gifts to the National Collection of African Art. Exhibition brochure, no. 9.
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