Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Big black lozenges drift across the cloth while small diamond clusters crowd one corner.

This Shoowa prestige panel is Kuba, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is piled raffia. Among the Kuba, raffia cloth long carried questions of rank, and panels like this were generally worn as skirts or given at ceremonies and funerals. Heavy black and cream lozenges and stepped diamonds run in a loose all-over scheme. Finer diamond grids huddle at lower left and near the center. Edges look raw and slightly frayed, with a small tuft of fringe at the corner. The panel is 20.25 inches wide by 21.5 long.

Order gives way to improvisation about halfway down, and it works.