Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

A small square of interlaced knots in a nine-block grid, edged in orange.

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 cloth begins with the fibers of the raffia palm, and the embroidery that covers it is slow, patient work. Cream and black interlace knots fill a small, nearly square cloth divided into a grid of blocks by black lines. An orange brown border cloth appears at the upper left and bottom left edges. The ground is pale cream. It measures 18.5 inches wide and 21 long.

Compact, careful and a bit like a very small maze.