Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

A very long, narrow strip of lattice and zigzag sections stitched end to end.

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. Sections of black and cream lattice, fine zigzags and diamond grids are joined along a long narrow cloth. The upper end shows a basket-weave lattice, the lower sections show finer chevrons. Several seams cross the strip. It measures 20.5 inches wide and 57.5 long.

A whole sample book squeezed onto one narrow strip.