Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Salmon pink ground, small diamonds, and a stain sneaking up from the lower corner.

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 pile on a Shoowa cloth is cut raffia, sheared to an even nap that collectors often call Kasai velvet. Salmon-orange ground is covered in small black diamonds inside a tan lattice, all-over and fairly fine. Color deepens toward the lower left, where a darker patch and some fading show. The border is a pink-brown hem with slightly uneven edges. It is 18 inches across and 19 long.

Warm as a sunset and just as unconcerned with symmetry.