An image is not available here yet.
View at the museum ↗Woman's Ceremonial Skirt
Kuba1875/1925
- Attribution
- Kuba Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Medium
- Raffia, plain weave; embroidered with raffia in buttonhole, pearl, and stem stitches, and running stitches cut to form pile; edged with raffia and hemp, plain weave, 2:2 oblique interlacing, and raffia-wrapped-raffia cord
- Physical dimensions
- 165.2 × 78.8 cm (65 × 31 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Richard Faletti, the Faletti Family Collection
Museum metadata is available under CC0. Image availability and rights are separate; consult the source record.
Source rights statement: Public-domain image eligibility not established by this export
View the museum record ↗From the museum
Assembled of individually worked panels sewn together, this skirt is embellished with an ever-shifting array of patterns. Although Kuba men are responsible for preparing and weaving raffia, Kuba women decorate the cloth with imagination and artistry. To make a skirt of this size, several women from the same extended family would contribute different sections. Raffia textiles have long been an important part of Kuba artistic production. At the turn of the century, when this skirt was made, European visitors to the kingdom commented on the richly patterned raffia textiles that were worn and displayed at public festivals and funerals.
Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0