Four Akan brass vessels, gold dust boxes, abamphruwa, Ghana, each with different artwork and designs. the sides withdifferent geometric motifs. oxidized patina; signs of use. Certificate of origin and provenance.

Historically, only royals and members of their entourage could possess precious metals like locally mined gold (sika) and imported silver. Akan gold production likely began in the second half of the fifteenth century, yielding approximately fourteen million ounces of metal by 1900. Gold circulated in powdered form (sika futuro) as the currency of the Asante Empire and many of its neighbors until 1901; when not accumulated as a form of personal wealth, gold dust was melted down and cast into fashionable ornaments...

...Gold was not only a means of wealth and a way of displaying status, but also a spiritual substance. The shining metal was believed to be the earthly embodiment of the sun, and thus the force of life itself (kra).

Metropolitan Museum, NY, Container (Kuduo) 18th -19th century.

Garrard, Timothy F. "The Akan of Ghana." In African Gold : Jewellry and Ornaments from Ghana, Cote D'Ivoire, Mali and Senegal in the Collection of the Gold of Africa, Barbier-Mueller Museum in Cape Town. New York/Munich: Prestel, 2011. Ross, Doran H., Georg Eisner, and Leslie Jones. Royal Arts of the Akan: West African Gold in Museum Liaunig. Neuhaus/Suha: HL Museumverwaltung, 2009. Wilks, Ivor. Forests of Gold: Essays on the Akan and the Kingdom of Asante. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1993.

sold

Height: ca. 4 cm
Length: ca. 8 cm
Weight: 60g - 70g each