- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Copper alloy weight, oval shape representing a face or a mask of a lion.
- Long description
- Copper alloy weight, oval shape representing a face or a mask of a lion. The back of the weight has two loops. [MJD DDF Body Arts Project 2010/2011 25/03/2011]
- Date / Period
- Date made: 1700-1900, uncertain
- Date collected
- By 1938
- Acquisition information
- Bequeathed: 1938
- Materials and processes
- Material Copper Alloy Metal, Process Lost Wax Cast
- Dimensions
- Length: max 28 mm, Width: max 21 mm, Weight 9 g
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1938.18.882
- Research and responses
This weight was one of 97 studied by Ryan Brown, an MSc student at Cranfield University, between 2015-2016. Ryan used HH-XRF analysis to determine that the gold weights matched the composition of contemporary Portuguese brasses thus corroborating the literature that identifies Portugal as the source of Akan copper alloys. He also found that across the five centuries of gold weight production their composition did not greatly vary and it is therefore difficult to infer any datable information. The title of his Master’s thesis was “Non-Destructive Compositional Analysis of Akan Copper-Alloy Goldweights from Ghana, in the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford: Characterisation and Provenance” and a copy can be found in RDF under 1938.18.
Search terms: Measurement, Figure, Gold Weight, Animal Figure
Further items to explore
2000.6.715Brass weight used for measuring gold. The weight is square in shape with cut "slots" in each side. [CF 6/8/2002]2000.6.715
2000.6.8Brass weight used for measuring gold; figure of a standing man holding a bulbous object, representing perhaps gourd, in his right hand. His left arm is missing.2000.6.8
1930.7.47Copper alloy weight for weighing gold, in the form of a pointed oval on a handle.1930.7.47
2000.6.326Brass weight used for measuring gold. The weight is rectangular in shape and has geometrical designs on the upper surface. [MdeA 6/12/2001]2000.6.326
2000.6.266Brass weight used for measuring gold. The weight is rectangular in shape and has geometrical designs on the upper surface. [MdeA 4/12/2001]2000.6.266
1945.12.15BModel stool, made of wood. It has a concave, rectangular seat and rectangular base, with two oval supports which each have a central, rectangular window. The outer faces of the supports are decorated with chip carved triangles. There are two semicircles cut out of the seat. [JC [OPS move] 16/5/2017]1945.12.15B
1933.44.32Copper alloy weight for weighing gold in the shape of a man with an object on his head. [MJD DDF Body Arts Project 2010/2011 22/12/2010]1933.44.32
1987.33.24Copper alloy weight for weighing gold, in the shape of a cup. [MJD 08/04/2011]1987.33.24