Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Diagonal plaited bands slide down the cloth like rain on a window.

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. Tan interlace bands outlined in cream run on a steep diagonal, dotted with small black triangles and diamonds. The panel is 20.5 inches wide by 22 long.

The diagonal is stubborn, and the black triangles are its punctuation.