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Ceremonial Skirt

A work made of raffia, plain weaves; pieced; appliqúed with plain weaves in pearl stitches; embroidered in pearl stitches; edged with bands of cotton, warp-stripe warp-float faced twill weave; cotton, plain weave; pieced and hemmed in slip and pearl stitches; and cotton, warp-float faced alternating float weave; joined with raffia in pearl and twisted insertion stitches.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of raffia, plain weaves; pieced; appliqúed with plain weaves in pearl stitches; embroidered in pearl stitches; edged with bands of cotton, warp-stripe warp-float faced twill weave; cotton, plain weave; pieced and hemmed in slip and pearl stitches; and cotton, warp-float faced alternating float weave; joined with raffia in pearl and twisted insertion stitches.

Date:

1875/1900

Artist:

Kuba, Bushong
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kasai Province, Mushenge

About this artwork

Individually worked panels were sewn together to create this expansive skirt embellished with a kinetic array of patterns. The central floating motifs add lightness, especially when contrasted with the black-and-white checkerboard edge. Kuba men are responsible for preparing and weaving raffia, while Kuba women cut the appliqúe shapes freehand to decorate the cloth. To make a skirt of this size, several women from the same extended family would construct different sections.

The abstract forms may represent stylized humans, animals, plants, and objects. Constituting a kind of encrypted script, the repeating motifs—including circles, lozenges, and L-shapes—function as building blocks for the entire design. The comma-like shape that appears across parts of the skirt is called ishina’mbua, which translates as “dog’s tail”—a symbolic reference to the animal’s keen sense of smell and vision as well as the spiritual qualities that the Kuba associate with the animal.

At the turn of the previous century, when this skirt was made, European visitors to the Kuba kingdom recorded their admiration for the richly patterned raffia textiles that were worn and displayed at public festivals and funerals.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Textiles

Culture

Kuba

Title

Ceremonial Skirt

Place

Democratic Republic of the Congo (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1875–1900

Medium

Raffia, plain weaves; pieced; appliqúed with plain weaves in pearl stitches; embroidered in pearl stitches; edged with bands of cotton, warp-stripe warp-float faced twill weave; cotton, plain weave; pieced and hemmed in slip and pearl stitches; and cotton, warp-float faced alternating float weave; joined with raffia in pearl and twisted insertion stitches

Dimensions

77.1 × 475.4 cm (30 3/8 × 187 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Edward E. Ayer Endowment, a memorial to Charles L. Hutchinson by his great friend and admirer; Samuel P. Avery and Maurice D. Galleher endowments

Reference Number

1985.198

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/110058/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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