Kuba Tcaka or Dance Skirt

Warm brown cloth dotted with soft rings, looking like a rain shower in slow motion.

This tcaka or dance skirt is Kuba, from Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is dyed raffia. Kuba cloth comes from the Kuba Kingdom in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where men and women work side by side to make cloths that carry a great deal of symbolism. Long textile in a warm reddish-brown with small, faint circular motifs scattered across the surface. A central vertical seam runs down the length, and the ends show a slight wobble with gently darker edges. It is 31 inches wide and 194 long.

Plain in color and quietly spotted in all the right places.