Accession Number
1997/1.447

Title
Gold-weight

Artist(s)
Akan

Artist Nationality
Akan (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1900-1985

Medium & Support
brass

Dimensions
2 3/8 in x 3/8 in x 1/4 in (6 cm x 0.9 cm x 0.7 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Dr. James and Vivian Curtis

Subject matter
Gold-weight in the shape of a plant, possibly part of the oil palm. It may be a gold-weight directly cast from nature (cf. Phillips, African Goldweights, 2010, p. 47). Among the floral motifs found on the gold-weights used by Akan-speaking peoples in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, representations of the oil palm are particularly common. Proverbs associated with this motif include "all plants may shed their leaves except the palm tree", meaning lies will eventually be revealed but the truth remains, as well as "the strength of the palm tree is in its branches", meaning a king's power lies in the number of his people (cf. Garrard, Akan Weights and the Gold Trade, 1980, p. 208).

Physical Description
Gold-weight in the shape of cresent forms stacked on top of one another with a small cylindrical post at one end. 

Primary Object Classification
Metalwork

Primary Object Type
goldweight

Collection Area
African

Rights
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Keywords
goldweights
measuring
miniature (size attribute)
plant components
weighing devices