Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Honeycomb hexagons in concentric black lines, running quite sensibly in rows.

This Shoowa prestige panel is Kuba, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is piled raffia. Cut-pile raffia of this kind is usually attributed to the Shoowa, a Kuba people of the Kasai region, and was traditionally made by women. Large concentric hexagons drawn in fine black lines repeat across a pink tan ground, each centered on a dark oval. The rows are even and the scale is large. A pinkish border runs along the bottom and edges. It is 21.5 inches across and 22 long.

Bees would approve, though they would ask for more hexagons.