ART ON VIEW
FIG. 5 (right):
Prestige cloth.
Kuba, Kasai
Province, DR Congo.
1958–1959 (date
range determined by
carbon-14 testing).
Raffi a palm fi ber.
59.7 x 63.5 cm.
Private collection. R.18060.4.
76
FIG. 6 (left):
Prestige cloth.
Kuba, Kasai Province,
DR Congo. 1961–1962
(date range determined by
carbon-14 testing).
Raffi a palm fi ber. 48.3 x 55.9 cm.
Private collection. R.18060.6.
FIG. 7 (right):
Bakuba. Fabrication de
rafi a (Bakuba. Weaving
raffi a). Photograph
by Casimir Zagourski
(1880–1941).
Pierre Loos Collection. Courtesy of
Andres Moraga Textile Art.
textile in the BMA’s exhibition: a breathtakingly
intricate overskirt that dates from between
1736 and 1799 (fi g. 16).5 The defi ning design
of this piece is a meticulously executed misheke
bodi (ox horn) pattern that stretches across the
two central panels of composition. Yet, because
both fi gure and ground are dyed the same deep
red, the pattern is nearly imperceptible to anyone
but the person wearing it. Indeed, one must
be within inches of the piece—and blessed with
good lighting—to even be aware of this stemstitched
design. We must, thus, understand the
garment to be a work of art created for an audience
of one.
Although quite popular in the eighteenth century,
our research shows that intimately scaled
design began to fall out of favor with Kuba elites
in the early 1800s. Indeed, in the early nineteenth
century, the fi rst major shift occurs in the
kingdom’s textile design: Weavers and embroiderers
begin to create works that address and
speak to members of a viewing public. Design,
in short, shifts to the level of the perceptible.
Once again, overskirts—the top layer of an elite
man’s or woman’s ceremonial ensemble—provide
the clearest evidence of this transformation.
The central panels of one skirt created between
1807 and 1896, highlight both clear similarities
and demonstrable differences with the older embroidery
traditions (fi g. 18). Like its previously
discussed predecessor, the central panels of this
work showcase a relatively simple design that