Gold Weight (abrammuo): Drum with Jaws of Defeated Enemies (1800s): Art, History and Details

Gold Weight (abrammuo): Drum with Jaws of Defeated Enemies (1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The wealth and power of the Asante kingdom was derived primarily from its massive gold resources. Since at least 1600, small weights in brass and bronze were used to weight gold dust and nuggets. The royal court had the most elaborate store of weights, while commoners often had about a dozen. Their imagery falls into two broad cateogries: geometric and representational. The latter often refers to proverbs, which used judiciously, marked a wise person.

Object facts

• Title: Gold Weight (abrammuo): Drum with Jaws of Defeated Enemies
• Date: 1800s
• Culture: Africa, West Africa, Ghana, Asante goldsmith
• Type: Tools and Equipment
• Technique: Brass
• Dimensions: Overall: 3.6 x 5.3 cm (1 7/16 x 2 1/16 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 1969.266

A detail from the museum

Representations of human jawbones surround the edge of this gold weight.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin N. Haas

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.