Kuba Shoowa Dance Skirt Panel

Pattern as geometry, geometry as a kind of calm.

Kuba weavers of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, made this Shoowa dance skirt panel in raffia in the 20th century. Kuba panels like this are often used in dance costume and as markers of status, and each is built from many small stitched motifs. The center field is a soft tan lattice of raised diamonds. Dark borders with hooked, interlocking black lines run down both sides and across the top. The edges are cream, and a fringed hem shows at the foot.

About fifty-one inches by eighteen. Quiet pattern, no fuss, for a narrow wall.