Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

A patchwork of diamonds, zigzags and hourglasses sewn into one quarter-turned cloth.

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. Four sections of different patterns meet on a single cloth. Upper left has dotted diamonds, upper right and lower left show sharp black and cream zigzags, and lower right shows hourglass shapes. A pink-brown fringe encircles the whole piece. It is 23 inches across and 25 long.

A sampler, and the maker clearly had opinions about all of them.