Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Stacked triangle diamonds and checkerboards, running tall down a dark field.

This Shoowa prestige panel is Kuba, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is piled raffia. The Kuba are known for raffia textiles in which a few simple elements are repeated and varied until the surface seems to move. Tall and dark, with a central column of nested diamonds built from small stepped triangles. Black and cream checkerboards fill the upper and side zones, and the pattern is mostly mirrored left to right. The edge is hemmed in brown. It is 22 inches across and 40.5 long.

Triangles nested like Russian dolls, in good order.