Ashanti gold weight. brass man playing pressure drum, small - darkly tarnished.
Donor:
Berta Bascom
Collection place:
Ghana
Verbatim coll. place:
Africa; Ghana, Ashanti
Culture or time period:
Ashanti
Materials:
Brass (alloy)
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Drums (membranophones) and Gold-weights
Function:
7.3 Weights, Measures, and Computing Devices
Context of use:
Associated proverb; "when the face of the drum is there to beat, you do not leave that to beat the side." "There is no other way of passing on the language of the drum." Used during the gold dust currency trade which flourished on the Ivory Coast from teh 1400's throught the 1800's.
Department:
Africa (except Ancient Egypt)
Dimensions:
height 5 centimeters
Comment:
Notation on card: Verso: Drummer(?): “There is not other way of passing on the language of the drum.” “When the face of the drum is there to beat, you do not leave that to beat the side.”; PAHMA Storage Loc: V-28-4. Native name: abrammuo = goldweight.