Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Soft brown and tan diamonds nest inside each other like a quiet set of bowls.

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 cloths come from the Kuba kingdom in the Kasai region, where men traditionally wove the raffia ground and women embroidered it. Concentric tan diamonds with brown shaded centers and fine white outlines fill the cloth in a regular all-over arrangement. The colors are warm and low contrast, with no true black. A few darker patches and faded zones show. It measures 19.75 inches wide and 22 long.

No shouting, just diamonds repeating until the cloth runs out.