Kuba Tcaka or Dance Skirt Panel

Grey-black mazes and boxes cover this tan cloth, ending in a band of tight script.

This tcaka or dance skirt panel is Kuba, from Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is embroidered raffia. Because the cloth is built from separate squares, they can be separated and recombined into new compositions, then backed and hung on a wall much like a tapestry. Wide textile in tan with dense dark line patterns of mazes, boxes and spirals filling stacked panels. The lower portion has narrow bands of small repeated marks, and the edges are slightly irregular with soft creases. It is 34.5 inches wide and 103 long.

A maze, drawn with steady hands and plenty of stamina.