Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Cream ground, brown angular hooks, and a pattern that crosses itself like a tangled fence.

This Shoowa prestige panel is Kuba, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is piled raffia. Among the Kuba, raffia cloth long carried questions of rank, and panels like this were generally worn as skirts or given at ceremonies and funerals. Brown meanders and crossed hooks with small diamonds cover a pale cream ground in vertical rhythm, with a horizontal seam at mid height. A wide tan border frames the cloth. The linework is delicate and slightly irregular. The panel is 21 inches wide by 24 long.

Handwriting that wandered cheerfully across the whole page.