Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Brown diamonds stuffed with tiny checkers, framed by a very shaggy cream fringe.

This Shoowa prestige panel is Kuba, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is piled raffia. Shoowa embroiderers generally work in geometric designs, and the patterns are often said to be composed as the stitching goes. Cream lines draw large lozenges over a deep brown ground, each holding small checkered diamonds in black and brown. A thick golden fringe runs along the top and bottom, and the edges at the corners look ragged and uneven. It is 19 inches across and 21.5 long.

The fringe has clearly been allowed to do its own thing.