Kuba Tcaka or Dance Skirt

Pale and fine-lined, with a tidy surface of tiny patterns waiting to be studied.

This tcaka or dance skirt is Kuba, from Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is embroidered raffia. Typical woven panels measure about 26 by 28 inches and are sewn together into the great length of a wrap-around skirt, which can at times reach beyond twenty feet. Long narrow textile in pale tan with very fine, tightly drawn geometric lines across the length. A short vertical seam sits on the left and the lower end is a smooth, plain pale section. It is 24 inches wide and 214 long.

Delicate, narrow and extremely well behaved.