Kuba Tcaka or Dance Skirt

Cream angles zigzag across a deep red-brown ground like confetti with discipline.

This tcaka or dance skirt is Kuba, from Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, and dates to the 20th century. It is applique 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 narrow textile with a dark chocolate ground and short bent lines in cream and tan set in loose rows. Divisions between sections are visible, and the edges are straight with soft wear and small faded patches. It is 28 inches wide and 196 long.

Moody, tidy and generous with its little angles.