Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

A dark, frayed rectangle of black zigzag bands and small checkered diamonds.

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. Slanting black and tan bands cross across a dark ground, enclosing small checkered diamonds in staggered rows. The top shows a few striped stripes and a lighter wedge on the right. Frayed fringe and ragged edges hang along the sides and bottom. It is 15 inches across and 23 long.

Rough around the edges, and rather proud of it.