Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
2019.9.5 |
Object Name |
Weight, Balance |
Description |
Two figures are sitting down at a surface playing mancala, a centuries old game originating from Africa. One figure appears to have a head covering. Possibly a gold weight, or possibly a tourist genre figure. The Asante peoples of West Africa used gold dust as their currency for almost five centuries. To standardize prices, traders used a complex system of weights. Initially these weights were inspired by the geometric designs of the Arabic merchants' weights from North Africa. In around 1700, however, the Ashanti passion for pithy proverbs led to the creation of figurative weights. This is possibly a "proverb weight," which communicates to the viewer a specific moral or social value. Gold weights that depict figurative images are used not only as a tool in measuring gold, but also as a means to present appropriate social behavior or Asante value, and typically depict people in pairs. This weight features a game of mancala, the ancient Arabic strategy game, and may invoke a proverb which says, "having no one to play with is worse than poverty." |
Title |
Mancala Players Genre Figure or Gold Weight |
Date |
early to mid-1900s |
Material |
brass |
Dimensions |
H-2.5 W-2.5 L-2.25 inches |
Credit line |
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Frank J. Breunig, Jr. |
Place of Origin |
Africa/Ghana |
Culture |
Asante |
Subjects |
Games Gold Play Social aspects Social life Tourism Tourist art |
Relation |
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