Goldweight Depicting a Stool

Weights for measuring gold dust were made and used throughout Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire for more than five centuries, from about 1400 to 1900. These weights are either figurative or abstract and are usually divided into an early period (c. 1400–1700) and a late period (c. 1700–1900). During the late period, an increased variety and number of figurative weights emerged, although abstract weights continued to be made. Although used in economic transactions, the individual pieces could also function symbolically as indicators of wealth when placed on display.
This weight in the form of a stool with a deeply arching seat and supporting legs is part of a series of weights that relate to quotidian life in Ghana and the Côte d’Ivoire and include furniture, cooking equipment, weapons and tools, hunting and agricultural implements, and paraphernalia related to chieftaincy.