Asante or related Akan-speaking peoples
Ghana
Coastal West Africa
Goldweight Depicting a Pyramid
INV-5397
Asante or related Akan-speaking peoples
Ghana
Coastal West Africa19th/mid–20th century
Goldweight Depicting a Pyramid
Asante or related Akan-speaking peoples Ghana Coastal West Africa →asanteArts of Africaakanafrican Artgold-weightmetal
Date
19th/mid–20th century
Medium
Copper alloy
Dimensions
1.6 × 1.5 × 2 cm (5/8 × 9/16 × 3/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of the Britt Family Collection
From the 15th through the 19th centuries, gold brought great prosperity and power through trade to the Akan and Akan-related people of southern Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. To regulate trade in gold, Akan merchants and rulers developed brass weights called abrammuo (singular mrammuo) that established standard units of measurement. The earliest and most common gold weights were cast in abstract, geometric forms. This weight is in the shape of a pyramid, symbolic of wealth, history, and longevity; with its stepped design it was also probably easy to grasp with the hand.
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