Kuba Tcaka or Dance Skirt

A beige textile of tiny grids, ending in a plain panel and a small pale patch.

This tcaka or dance skirt is Kuba, from Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is raffia. Because the cloth is built from separate squares, they can be separated and recombined into new compositions, then backed and hung on a wall much like a tapestry. Long textile in beige and grey-brown, with sections of fine grid and diamond patterns separated by seams. A plain, pale rectangle sits at the lower left, and the whole surface is softly creased. It is 31.5 inches wide and 161.5 long.

Fine patterns, plain endings, and modest in every way.