7
keywordPath%20%3D%20%22GXST%22%20and%20Creation_Place2%20%3D%20%22Ghana%22
Metalwork
Goldweight
Asante artist, (active )
Asante artist
Ghana
1 5/8 x 1 1/8 x 1/2 in. (4.1 x 2.9 x 1.3 cm)
.
.
.
Brass
Brass
Asante; made in Ghana
0
0
1900-2000, African, African art, male figures, men, metalwork
Metalwork
Fueled by rich deposits of gold, the Asante engaged in extensive trade relations with European and African nations. Buyers and vendors used brass weights such as these to counterbalance gold dust on scales. Each Asante family had their own set of brass pieces. Unsurprisingly the vendors’ weights were often too heavy and the buyer’s weights too light. Many goldweights represented local proverbs with social or moral meanings that served as ethical reminders during the sometimes fraught ordeal of gold-weighing. If this weight was associated with a proverb, the cultural association has been lost to us.
[Gallery label text, 2009]
1953.76.1
item
Memorial Art Gallery
11/27/2000
53.76.1DI#1
digital image
Three-quarter
1/22/2008
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/53.76.1_A1.jpg
digital image
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/53.76.1_A2.jpg
Metalwork
Goldweight
Asante artist, (active )
Asante artist
Ghana
Primary
1 1/4 x 1 3/8 x 5/8 in. (3.2 x 3.5 x 1.6 cm)
.
.
.
Brass
Brass
Asante, made in Ghana
0
0
1900-2000, African, African art, birds, metalwork, sculpture
Metalwork
Fueled by rich deposits of gold, the Asante engaged in extensive trade relations with European and African nations. Buyers and vendors used brass weights such as these to counterbalance gold dust on scales. Each Asante family had their own set of brass pieces. Unsurprisingly the vendors’ weights were often too heavy and the buyer’s weights too light. Many goldweights represented local proverbs with social or moral meanings that served as ethical reminders during the sometimes fraught ordeal of gold-weighing. If this weight was associated with a proverb, the cultural association has been lost to us.
[Gallery label text, 2009]
1953.76.2
item
Memorial Art Gallery
11/28/2000
53.76.2DI#1
digital image
Side
1/22/2008
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/53.76.2_A1.jpg
digital image
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/53.76.2_A2.jpg
Woodwork
Stool
Asante artist, (active )
Asante artist
Ghana
Primary
10 3/4 x 18 x 9 in. (27.3 x 45.7 x 22.9 cm)
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.
.
Wood
Wood
Asante; made in Ghana
0
0
1900-2000, African art, Asante, chairs
Woodwork
In many African cultures, objects (such as carved figures and masks) can act as physical surrogates for spirits wishing to communicate and interact with the living. Stools are central objects in Asante spirituality. The Asante believe the stool used in life houses the owner’s soul in death. This is based in the story of The Golden Stool that descended from the heavens to land in (and thereby legitimize) the lap of the first Asante king. The Asante saying goes, “A man with no stool is a man with no dignity.”
[Gallery label text, 2009]
The treatment of stools as sacred objects is unique to the Asante kingdom - an Akan empire founded by the great leader Osei Tutu in the late seventeenth century. The tradition began with the great Golden Stool which legend relates floated down from the sky and fell in the lap of Osei Tutu. To this day, the Golden Stool stands as a representation of the soul, or spirit (sunsum) of the Asante people. It is not a throne, but rather a powerful, sacred object, that is guarded by each successive king and forbidden to be sat upon or to touch the ground.
The most lavish stools are rewarded to important chiefs or members of the royal court, but commoners also maintain more modest stools. The stool is said to absorb some of the sunsum, or spirit, of his owner. Such an intimate link between owner and stool is reflected in the treatment of the stool after the owner's death. A high official's stool is linked to his role in office and when the owner dies, it is said that "a stool has fallen." The stool is then "blackened" and kept on its side in a separate "stool room." The soul of the ancestor is said to be embodied in the blackened stool.
[Gallery label text]
1962.24
item
Memorial Art Gallery
11/28/2000
62.24SL1
slide
full
2 x 2
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
62.24DI#3
digital image
62.24_A3.jpg
1/22/2008
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/62.24_A3.jpg
glossy
full
8 x 10
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
glossy
full
8 x 10
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
negative
full
4 x 5
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
negative
full
2 x 3
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
62.24DI1
digital image
2 x 2
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/62.24_A1.jpg
62.24DI#2
digital image
Front
1/22/2008
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/62.24_A2.jpg
Sculpture
Fertility Doll (Akuaba)
Asante artist, (active )
Asante artist
Ghana
Primary
12 3/8 x 4 7/8 in. (31.4 x 12.4 cm)
.
.
.
Wood
Wood
Asante; made in Ghana
0
0
African art, religious & ritual objects
Sculpture
Fertility is a universal human concern that has long been a central issue in Africa where the infant mortality rate remains high to this day. An akuaba is a fertility talisman meant to aid an Asante woman yearning to become a mother. The horned hairdo of this akuaba is that of a priestess and indicates the child, if allowed to live, will become a priestess dedicated to a goddess. Normally it is not necessary to dedicate a child; this is more common among older women who had already lost several children.
Akuaba are affectionately bathed, dressed, fed and carried by women as they would a living child. Their slight, flat shape is designed to be carried on a woman’s back in her cloth wrapper. When the woman’s child survives childhood, the akuaba is sometimes placed in a shrine as an offering of thanks to the god responsible. Almost all of these fertility dolls are female as the Asante are a matrilineal society and most women wish for daughters to carry on their family line.
[Gallery label text, 2009]
1967.31
item
Memorial Art Gallery
11/28/2000
67.31SL1
slide
2 x 2
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
glossy
8 x 10
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
67.31DI1
digital image
2 x 2
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/67.31_A1.jpg
67.31DI#2
digital image
Front
1/22/2008
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/67.31_A2.jpg
67.31DI#3
digital image
back
1/22/2008
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/67.31_A3.jpg
negative
8 x 10
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
negative
3 x 5
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
Sculpture
Female Figure (Akuaba)
Asante artist, (active )
Asante artist
Ghana
Primary
10 1/2 x 4 1/4 in. (26.7 x 10.8 cm)
.
.
.
Wood
Wood
Asante; made in Ghana
0
0
1900-2000, African art, Asante, fertility figures, sculpture
Sculpture
Asante women often carry dolls called akuaba to encourage fertility and ensure the health and beauty of the child. The figure is placed at an altar or held in the wrappers of a woman's clothing, treated as a real child until pregnancy occurs. If the resulting child dies, the akuaba might be kept as a memorial to the infant. Akuabas are representative of ideal beauty, demonstrating round or oval heads with high foreheads, and long necks with excess fat, indicating a good state of health.
[Gallery label text]
1984.19
item
Memorial Art Gallery
11/28/2000
negative
4x5
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
84.19SL1
slide
2 x 2
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
84.19DI1
digital image
2 x 2
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/84.19_A1.jpg
84.19DI#2
digital image
Front
1/22/2008
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/84.19_A2.jpg
84.19DI#3
digital image
back
1/22/2008
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/84.19_A3.jpg
Sculpture
Fertility Doll (Akuaba)
Asante artist, (active )
Asante artist
Ghana
Primary
10 x 3 5/8 in. (25.4 x 9.2 cm)
.
.
.
Wood
Wood
Asante; made in Ghana
0
0
1900-2000, African art, Asante, fertility figures, sculpture
Sculpture
Fertility is a universal human concern that has long been a central issue in Africa where the infant mortality rate remains high to this day. An akuaba is a fertility talisman meant to aid an Asante woman yearning to become a mother.
Akuaba are affectionately bathed, dressed, fed and carried by women as they would a living child. Their slight, flat shape is designed to be carried on a woman’s back in her cloth wrapper. When the woman’s child survives childhood, the akuaba is sometimes placed in a shrine as an offering of thanks to the god responsible. Almost all of these fertility dolls are female as the Asante are a matrilineal society and most women wish for daughters to carry on their family line.
[Gallery label text, 2009]
1984.20
item
Memorial Art Gallery
11/28/2000
negative
4x5
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
84.20SL1
slide
2 x 2
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
84.20DI1
digital image
2 x 2
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/84.20_A1.jpg
84.20DI#2
digital image
Front
1/22/2008
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/84.20_A2.jpg
84.20DI#3
digital image
back
1/22/2008
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/84.20_A3.jpg
Sculpture
Bird Mask
Gurunsi artist, (active )
Gurunsi artist
11 x 33 in. (27.9 x 83.8 cm)
.
.
.
Wood
Wood
Gurunsi; made in Ghana
0
0
African art, birds, Gurunsi, masks (sculpture), woodwork
Sculpture
1971.63
item
Memorial Art Gallery
3/10/2001
71.63SL1
slide
2 x 2
00/00/00
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Graphics/blank.gif
71.63DI1
digital image
From left side
6/30/2009
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/71.63_A1.jpg
71.63DI2
digital image
From right side
6/30/2009
http://127.0.0.1:5000/Media/images/71.63_A2.jpg