Spoon
date: label: Date
content: 16th-early 18th century
name: label: Maker
content: Akan artist
notes: label: Label Text
content: Until the end of the 19th century, gold dust was used in business transactions by the Asante and related peoples in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. Special spoons known as saawa, usually made of sheet brass, lifted the gold dust from a storage box and placed it on one side of a beam scale to be measured against a weight.
label: Description
content: Brass gold dust spoon with incised lozenges and a disc-shaped handle end.
label: Provenance
content: Roy and Brigitta Mitchell, Washington, D.C., -- to 2010
label: Exhibition History
content: Slavery and Freedom, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., September 24, 2016 (ongoing)
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 Please note that some records are incomplete (missing image or content descriptions) and others reflect out-of-date language or systems of thought regarding how to engage with and discuss cultural heritage and the specifics of individual artworks.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: Ghana
title: label: Object Name
content: <I>saawa</I>
topic: 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 the Roy and Brigitta Mitchell Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African Art
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2010-10-29
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: 13.1 x 4 x 0.7 cm (5 3/16 x 1 9/16 x 1/4 in.)