Weight
System.The Arabic weight system used by the Akan was
based upon
Byzantine standards, which in turn derived from those of Rome. Early
Akan
weights, some as old as the 1400s, resemble Islamic goldweights and
apothecary
weights. Reflecting the rise and fall of dominant trading partners, the
weight
system changed to a Portuguese standard and then to the Troy ounce
standard of
the English and Dutch (
Designs. Early Akan weights are small, rectangular blocks, some with copper inlay, punchwork designs, filed edges or simple, boldly formed raised devices that do not extend to the block edges. A few are hexagonal, pyramidal, or barrel shaped. Many of these early "geometric," or abstract, weights survive. Many later geometric examples are flatter, with more elaborate patterns developed over time. Geometrics outnumber the later figurative weights; the greater number of figurative weights in the Meyer Collection reflects the collector's interest, not the accurate numerical balance between the two types.
Garrard:289). Some of
these may also be of Islamic derivation, as seems especially clear with
the
common bird-on-a-pyramid motif, which has a direct parallel in
12th-century
Persian metalwork.
(
Last updated 5 April 1995.