This object, called a mrammuo in the Akan language, depicts a leopard carrying a small animal in its teeth, and was cast in brass by an unidentified artist from what is now Ghana. The maker used a technique called lost-wax casting, which necessitates an unparalleled level of precision to create a duplicate metal sculpture from an original clay one.

Beginning in the 1300s, Mande-language-speaking businessmen facilitated trade between kingdoms in western and northern Africa by navigating the dangerous passage through the Sahara desert. Mande- and Akan-speaking traders created objects like this one as weights to measure the gold dust used as currency, adhering to an Islamic measurement system termed miktal in Arabic. By the 1600s, artists had developed complex designs incorporating miniature representations of people, animals, and objects from Akan cultural life. Leopards, associated with constancy and strength, were frequently selected as emblems of community leaders across Ghana.