Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Small checkerboard diamonds on all sides, with a plaited lattice running through the heart.

This Shoowa prestige panel is Kuba, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is piled raffia. Cut-pile raffia of this kind is usually attributed to the Shoowa, a Kuba people of the Kasai region, and was traditionally made by women. Fine black and tan checkered diamonds fill the top, bottom and side bands, around a central field of plaited interlace diamonds. The scale is small and tidy, with a pale ground and a thin tan border. It is 21 inches across and 33 long.

Checkers in the frame, braid in the middle, and nobody confused.