Gold Weight (abrammuo): Geometric Form (1800s): Art, History and Details

Gold Weight (abrammuo): Geometric Form (1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The Asante kingdom (an Akan state in present-day Ghana) primarily derived its wealth and power from its massive gold resources. Since at least 1600, small weights in brass and bronze were used to weigh gold dust and nuggets, which were the local form of currency. The rounded, worn-down edges of this weight suggest that it was used frequently. The royal court had the most elaborate store of weights, while commoners often had about a dozen. Their imagery falls into two broad categories: geometric and representational. The latter often refers to proverbs, which used judiciously, marked a wise person.

Object facts

• Title: Gold Weight (abrammuo): Geometric Form
• Date: 1800s
• Culture: Africa, West Africa, Ghana, Akan-style artist
• Type: Tools and Equipment
• Technique: Copper alloy
• Dimensions: Overall: 2.4 x 1.4 x 1.2 cm (15/16 x 9/16 x 1/2 in.)
• Collection: African Art
• Department: African Art
• Accession number: 1962.244

A detail from the museum

Geometric forms were the earliest shapes used for gold weights.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Hornung

Further reading listed by the museum

• Sims, Lowery Stokes. The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006.

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.