Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Weight
Not on view
This glass weight was used to mint gold coins. Its inscription refers to al-Mu‘izz li-Din Allah (ca. 930–975) of the Fatimid caliphate. Forged in the caliphate’s capital (present-day Tunisia), the weight was recovered in Mauritania at the site of a trading post. Fatimid gold currency was ultimately devalued in favor of that issued by the Almoravids, whose empire unified northwestern Africa, Muslim Spain, and ancient Ghana during the twelfth century. Akan polities in gold-mining regions developed standard units of measurement for weighing gold dust. Cast from brass, the earliest of these weights feature abstract geometric designs that reflect an Islamic sensibility.
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