Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Plaited diamond chains shimmer across a pale ground like woven rope in a wind.

This Shoowa prestige panel is Kuba, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is piled raffia. The Kuba are known for raffia textiles in which a few simple elements are repeated and varied until the surface seems to move. Tan and black interlace diamond chains run all over the cloth in a close, regular scheme. A faint horizontal seam crosses the lower middle. Small black triangles and a single outlined lozenge break the repeat, and the border is narrow. It measures 26.5 inches wide and 29 long.

Rope-work in cloth form, with one triangle that wandered in.