Asante, Ghana / Goldweight (Abrammuo) / 1700-1900Asante, Ghana
Goldweight (Abrammuo)
1700-1900

View Larger Image

View Full Catalog Record Below



This image is one of over 108,000 from the AMICA Library (formerly The Art Museum Image Consortium Library- The AMICO Library™), a growing online collection of high-quality, digital art images from over 20 museums around the world. www.davidrumsey.com/amica offers subscriptions to this collection, the finest art image database available on the internet. EVERY image has full curatorial text and can be studied in depth by zooming into the smallest details from within the Image Workspace.
 
Preview the AMICA Library™ Public Collection in Luna Browser Now

  • Cultures and time periods represented range from contemporary art, to ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian works.
  • Types of works include paintings, drawings, watercolors, sculptures, costumes, jewelry, furniture, prints, photographs, textiles, decorative art, books and manuscripts.

Gain access to this incredible resource through either a monthly or a yearly subscription and search the entire collection from your desktop, compare multiple images side by side and zoom into the minute details of the images. Visit www.davidrumsey.com/amica for more information on the collection, click on the link below the revolving thumbnail to the right, or email us at amica@luna-img.com .



Creator Nationality: African
Creator Name-CRT: Asante, Ghana
Title: Goldweight (Abrammuo)
View: Full View
Creation Start Date: 1700
Creation End Date: 1900
Creation Date: 1700-1900
Creation Place: Ghana, Africa
Object Type: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Classification Term: Sculpture
Materials and Techniques: Metal (brass)
Dimensions: Length: 2 1/4"; width: 11/16"
Description: A large brass figurative goldweight representing a hornbill. The bird has an elliptical body with concentric grooved wings, a short neck, a round head with round slit eyes, a broad flat beak which is squared at the end and there are nostrils at the base. There are a border of notched squares on each side of the head from the neck over the eyes to the nostrils and there is a short fan-shaped tail. Long round legs and large webbed 3 clawed feet each having a rear talon.
AMICA Contributor: Brooklyn Children's Museum
Owner Location: Brooklyn, New York, USA
ID Number: 84.31.52
Credit Line: Gift of Dr. Herbert S. Zim, 1984
Rights: http://www.amico.org/rights/bcm_.html
Context: The Asante (Ashanti) and other Akan groups made and used goldweights to weigh gold dust, their principal medium of exchange until it was abolished by the British in 1889. To the Asante, gold represented the spirit of the sun, was possessed of supernatural powers, and was considered sacred.

Each man with a commercial business owned a set of 70 or more weights and accessories, their quality indicating his status. A young man would receive his goldweight set from his father. They were all kept in a cloth or leather bundle, and the set was added to as the man prospered.

The best weights were made late in the 18th to early 19th centuries when the Asante Kingdom was at its height. Goldweights were made by the lost wax casting method. The earliest weights (1500-1700) were geometric in appearance, followed by a period of figurative weights depicting plants, animals, objects and humans (1700-1900). Weights were also cast directly from natural objects such as insects, peanuts and cocoons. Ninety percent of existing weights are geometric in form. Although the symbolism is obscure, geometric forms probably represent the sun, moon, water and procreation. Many figurative weights recall proverbs related to everyday life. Weights sometimes had to be adjusted after casting to make them conform to standards - lead fill would be added to geometric weights, and metal bands to figurative weights to make them heavier if necessary; goldweights that were too heavy could be filed down.

Proverb: One should never rub bottoms with a porcupine. (Don't get into a fight with someone who can hurt you more than you can hurt them.)

AMICA ID: BCM_.84.31.52
AMICA Library Year: 2003
Media Metadata Rights:

AMICA PUBLIC RIGHTS: a) Access to the materials is granted for personal and non-commercial use. b) A full educational license for non-commercial use is available from Cartography Associates at www.davidrumsey.com/amica/institution_subscribe.html c) Licensed users may continue their examination of additional materials provided by Cartography Associates, and d) commercial rights are available from the rights holder.

Home | Subscribe | Preview | Benefits | About | Help | Contact
Copyright © 2007 Cartography Associates.
All rights reserved.