Weight
date: label: Date
content: 15th-early 18th century
name: label: Maker
content: Akan artist
notes: label: Label Text
content: 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.
label: Label Text
content: 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.
label: Description
content: Cast copper alloy square geometric weight with notched edges and large square central hole.
label: Provenance
content: Unknown smith, Côte d'Ivoire or Ghana; acquired under unknown circumstances by Philip L. Ravenhill (1945-1997), Washington, D.C., while conducting anthropological research among Wan communities in Côte d'Ivoire, 1972-1974; donated to the National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., 1996.
label: Exhibition History
content: Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa's Arts, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 4, 2017-ongoing
label: Exhibition History
content: Gifts to the National Collection of African Art, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., September 17, 1997-January 4, 1998
label: Published References
content: Ravenhill, Philip. 1998. Gifts to the National Collection of African Art. Exhibition brochure, no. 9.
label: Content Statement
content: As part of our commitment to accessibility and transparency, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is placing its collection records online. Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks. If you see content requiring immediate action, we will do our best to address it in a timely manner. Please email nmafacuratorial@si.edu if you have any questions.
label: Image Requests
content: High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
place: label: Geography
content: Côte d'Ivoire
label: Geography
content: Ghana
topic: label: Topic
content: geometric motif
label: Topic
content: male
label: Topic
content: Trade
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African Art Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Philip L. Ravenhill in memory of Sylvia H. Williams
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African Art
identifier: label: Object number
content: 96-42-1.6
objectType: label: Type
content: Sculpture
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Copper alloy
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 1.6 x 4.6 x 4.4 cm (5/8 x 1 13/16 x 1 3/4 in.)