Kuba cloth - Democratic Republic of Congo TR84

This cloth is known as Mapela, traditionally gifted and worn at weddings.

A handwoven Kuba cloth from the Democratic Republic of Congo, worked from the fibre of the raffia vinifera palm. Each is the result of many hands: men weave the base cloth on inclined single-heddle looms, it is then pounded soft in a mortar, and the women finish it with embroidery, appliqué, patchwork and natural vegetable dyes in the Kuba palette of ivory, brown, clay-red and indigo.

The patterns are elaborate geometries of squares and rectangles, each individually conceived, named and handed down through generations. Cloths like this served as ceremonial gifts and as signs of wealth and status, the grandest reserved for Kuba royalty.

A genuine one-off — striking framed, hung as a wall piece, or laid as a textile throw or runner.

Size: 210cm (L) × 75cm (W)