Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Soft as velvet, and made of straw. That is the Shoowa trick.

Kuba embroiderers in the Democratic Republic of Congo insert raffia threads and trim them, a cut-pile technique that gives a plush surface, and finished panels were valued as gifts and signs of prestige. This 20th-century panel is eighteen inches by nineteen. On a natural straw ground, vertical columns of interlocking figure-eight and hexagonal links are outlined in dark brown. Some are filled with black plush, others with small touches of tan and rust.

The pattern seems to flicker. A plain raffia border keeps it honest.