Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Tangled basket-weave bands in black and cream, with chunky diamond fillers.

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 embroiderers generally work in geometric designs, and the patterns are often said to be composed as the stitching goes. Cream interlaced bands twist in diagonal weaves over a black ground, with solid diamonds and small checkered squares filling the gaps. The scale is medium and the weave is dense. A narrow pink-tan border and gentle ripples at the edges finish it. The panel is 19.5 inches wide by 21 long.

Ribbons knotted so tightly they must have been showing off.