Goldweight with geometric pattern / Artist Unknown, African, Akan-Speaking Peoples, Ghana or Côte d'Ivoire
Viewer
About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 1986/2.144
- Title
- Goldweight with geometric pattern
- Artist Nationality
- Ghanaian
- Medium and Support
- brass
- Object Creation Date
- 1900-1985
- Object Creation Place
- Africa (continent)
- Akan (historical region)
- Creation Place 1
- Africa (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- Akan (historical region)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Milford Golden
- Dimensions
- 0.8 cm x 2 cm x 3 cm (5/16 in. x 13/16 in. x 1 3/16 in.)
- Century
- Possibly 20th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Metalwork
- Primary Object Type
- goldweight
- Physical Description
- Rectangular goldweight with geometric pattern consisting of lines and "edged teeth".
- Subject Matter
- Goldweights have long been used by the Akan-speaking peoples of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire as instruments of trade-- merchants would use these weights to weigh amounts of gold dust, which expressed the price for articles to be bought and sold. Niangoran-Bouah, a scholar who has studied gold weights extensively, explains how a merchant has two versions of each weight: a heavier, "male" weight used for buying, and a lighter, "female" weight for selling. A trader's profit would be in the difference between the heavier and lighter weight, which both corresponded to the same amount of gold dust. Niangoran-Bouah illustrates the principles behind this use of goldweights by analogy to the way contemporary Akan traders conduct their business and make a profit. For example, a trader might buy a sack of rice comprised of 100 measurement units for 1000 francs-- so, 10 francs per unit. She might go on to retail the rice using a slightly smaller container, still selling at 10 francs per unit. Her profit would be the difference between the two different measurements of rice obtained by using two different containers, times the price per unit (100 units when buying, and let's say 115 units when selling). Trading of objects using goldweights follows this same principle, and is thus different from a Western style of profit-making.
- Secondary Keywords
- africa (continent)
- descriptors
- design elements
- geographic and political locations
- goldweights
- motifs
- visual and tactile
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 3888 x 2592
- File Size
- 218 KB
- Record
- 1986/2.144
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1986-sl-2.144/1986_2.144.jpg
Rights and Permissions
Related Links
Portfolios
- In public portfolios
IIIF
- Manifest
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1986-SL-2.144:1986_2.144.JPG
Cite this Item
View the Help Guide for more information.
- Full citation
-
"Goldweight with geometric pattern; Artist Unknown, African, Akan-Speaking Peoples, Ghana or Côte d'Ivoire." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1986-sl-2.144/1986_2.144.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 19, 2024.
