Skip to content
Pitt Rivers Museum
AboutHire the MuseumNewsletterUniversity of Oxford

1933.66.11

Copper alloy weight for weighing gold, in the form of a seed or berry. [MJD DDF Body Arts Project 2010/2011 24/01/2011]

1933.66.11

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

Terms and Conditions

If you wish to order a high-resolution image and/or licence its use for print or web publication, exhibition, film, promotional product or any other use, whether in the academic or commercial sector of any print run, then please visit photographic services.

Collection type
Object
Description
Copper alloy weight for weighing gold, in the form of a seed or berry. [MJD DDF Body Arts Project 2010/2011 24/01/2011]
Geographical reference
Ghana
Africa > Western Africa > Ghana
Ashanti
Cultural groups
Asante
Person
Field collector J. Sydney Henderson
PRM source J. Sydney Henderson
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1901
Date collected
1901
Acquisition information
Donated: 1933
Materials and processes
Material Copper Alloy Metal, Process Lost Wax Cast
Dimensions
Length: max 14 mm, Width: max 10 mm, Weight 5 g
Object numbers
Accession number: 1933.66.11
Research and responses

According to de Kolb (1968) Ashanti Goldweights No.1, Gallery d'Hautbarr: New York, in the introduction: 'A variation of the 'Cire perdue' casting practiced by the Ashanti quite often and successfully, is the 'lost beetle' process. Instead of a wax model, the body of a beetle, the claw of a crab, the foot of a fowl, a peanut, a chestnut, etc. was used.' [MJD DDF Body Arts Project 2010/2011 24/01/2011]

Search terms: Measurement, Food and Drink, Gold Weight, Food

Further items to explore