Prestige panel

Spurred by the patronage of the Kuba Kingdom’s ruling Bushong lineage, the production of embroidered raffia cloth panels developed from the 17th century on. In fact, the founder of the Bushong dynasty identified so closely with the patronage of woven and embroidered textiles that he incorporated the term for raffia palm, shyaam, into his regnal titles: Shyaam aMbul aNgoong (r. ca. 1625-1640). Subsequent rulers embraced raffia textiles as emblems of political rank and social status within the highly stratified Kuba court. In the second half of the 19th century, as this ethnically diverse polity grew in wealth and power due to its monopoly over the trade in ivory and enslaved people, so its patronage of raffia textiles flourished.

The result of a multi-stage, labor-intensive process involving both male and female specialist, these textiles were woven by men on a single-heddle loom before being embroidered by as many as six women under the leadership of a female lineage head. Built from a lexicon of named motifs whose interpretations varied depending on the artist and client, their interlacing patterns frequently repeat, while introducing an inventive range of subtle variations with each iteration. The quality and elaboration invested in creation depended on the rank of the patron or the intended wearer.

This undyed, monochrome panel is comprised of five full columns and one partial column of large, interlacing diamond forms. Each of these is outlined by a thick band which is elaborated with squared-off spirals. Negative spaces both within and between each column, have been filled with multiple registers of complex patterning. Although similar panels were frequently incorporated into skirts worn by men during investitures, funerals, initiations, and other public ceremonies, the lack of an embellished border suggests that his work was not worn. Rather, as tangible wealth, it was likely exchanged or gifted to cultivate relationships of reciprocity. Its classically muted and uniform color palette reflects the dominant aesthetic of those textiles produced in or near the Kuba capital of Mushenge by artists of the ruling Bushong lineage.