Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Zigzags, diamonds and hypnotic squares, all in a patchwork that refuses to behave.

This Shoowa prestige panel is Kuba, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century, in woven raffia. Shoowa weavers are generally celebrated for geometric patterns in dark and natural raffia, usually without repeating a design exactly. Here the surface is divided into a grid of squares, each filled with its own pattern. Some hold black diamonds, some zigzag chevrons, and a few have fine concentric lines that spin toward the center. The edges are lightly frayed, and the raffia has a warm, tawny tone. It is 22.5 inches wide and 36 long.

Twenty-odd squares, and not one of them agrees.