The earliest goldweights were made of stone, copper, iron, or basalt.

The earliest goldweights were made of stone, copper, iron, or basalt. As the trans-Saharan trade routes became more established, the Akan learned the technique of brass casting from their North African trading partners, which allowed them to create figurative goldweights.

Proverb: The ears of a chief are like a strainer—there are more than a thousand ways to them.

A pioneer of plein-air painting, Charles François Daubigny was among the first artists to complete landscapes entirely outdoors before the motif.

Acclaimed for her candid and accurate portraits, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard was one of only a few women elected to the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in the 18th century. In this superb example of Revolutionary portraiture, she convincingly depicts a range of textures, from the sheen of silk to the matte hair powder, with loose and dynamic brushstrokes.