Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

A crisp black diamond lattice with a shaggy fringe on three sides.

This Shoowa prestige panel is Kuba, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is piled raffia. Kuba textiles were woven and embroidered to be worn, gifted and buried with the dead, long before collectors hung them on walls. Medium black diamonds are held in a cream diagonal lattice across the whole field, quite regular and legible. Thick tan fringe spills over the left, bottom and right edges, and the upper right corner curls slightly. The panel is 19 inches wide by 22 long.

Neat inside, wild at the edges, like most of us.