Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Cut-pile raffia, trimmed to plush. The Shoowa embroiderers are admired for it.

Panels like this circulated as prestige goods and ceremonial gifts. This square one, made by the Kuba peoples of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 20th century, measures twenty-one and a half inches on each side and is laid out as an even diagonal grid.

Each diamond is outlined in several fine bands of linear stitching and filled with a checkerboard of dark brown and cream pile. A plain woven raffia border frames the design, with mild wear along the edges.

Geometry, with the nap left on.