Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Small black diamonds march across a tan field in two slightly mismatched halves.

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. Small, tightly packed diamonds in black and tan cover the whole cloth in rows. Two halves are sewn along a vertical seam, and the pattern shifts slightly across it. It is 21 inches across and 25 long.

Someone counted diamonds all day and never lost their place.