Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

Raffia, cut pile, and a maze of nested diamonds. This is geometry done by hand.

In Kuba tradition, men wove the raffia ground, and women carried out the embroidery, combining fine linear stitching with plush cut pile. Such panels were valued as prestige goods. This Shoowa panel from the Democratic Republic of Congo dates to the 20th century and measures about twenty-one by twenty-three inches. Stepped diamonds are outlined in black on the natural ground, each holding a cluster of small black diamonds in cut pile. The design shifts subtly from row to row, as is typical of the form. Loose raffia fringe frames the edges.

Crisp lines, soft edges. Rather like its makers, one assumes.