Accession Number
1997/1.452

Title
Gold-weight

Artist(s)
Akan

Artist Nationality
Akan (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1900-1985

Medium & Support
brass

Dimensions
2 1/2 in x 5/8 in (6.3 cm x 1.6 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Dr. James and Vivian Curtis

Subject matter
Figurative gold-weight in the shape of three twisted ropes attached to a coiled loop. This gold-weight may represent an indigenous charm, called asuman, which are small, man-made objects made of ingredients such as feathers, hair, shell, claws, teeth, bark scrapings, leaves, beads, ash and other substances. Their potency comes from the qualities of the ingredients such as ​hard, soft, cool, hot, shiny and dull that often represent cosmological forces. By binding or wrapping these ingredigents together, their altered properties allow opposing forces to take on new meanings (cf. Sheales, African Goldweights, 2014). 

Physical Description
Gold-weight in the shape of twisted loop attached to three pointed rods with horizontal incisions. 

Primary Object Classification
Metalwork

Primary Object Type
goldweight

Collection Area
African

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
amulets
fetishes
goldweights
measuring
miniature (size attribute)
weighing devices