Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Mustard, rose and black blocks tilt across the cloth like stained glass.

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 pile on a Shoowa cloth is cut raffia, sheared to an even nap that collectors often call Kasai velvet. Angular bands in mustard yellow, dusty rose and black tilt in diagonal meanders across a brown ground. The scale is large and graphic. It is 17.5 inches across and 20 long.

The only one here that dressed for a party.