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Object Timeline
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1957 |
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2012 |
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2015 |
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2025 |
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Status Cloth (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
This is a Status cloth. It is dated late 19th century and we acquired it in 1957. Its medium is raffia and its technique is embroidered in cut pile and stem stitches on plain weave foundation. It is a part of the Textiles department.
The sophisticated visual culture of the Kuba kingdom has been noted since the first explorers visited the region. Abstract geometric patterning is deployed across all media, from scarification of the skin to textiles, basketry, pottery, and even the woven walls of noble dwellings. The devices of color alternation, contrast of surface texture, and play of positive and negative space result in seemingly endless variations on lozenge, knot, interlace, and braid patterns. While the Kuba have been admired in the west purely for the inventiveness of their designs, the pervasiveness and complexity of the patterns suggests a meaningful system. In a culture based on oral tradition, symbols, cosmograms, ideographs, and mnemonic devices contribute to the preservation and transmission of cultural knowledge.
Status cloths are collected throughout a man’s life and are displayed at his funeral as a sign of weath and stature within the community. Those that have been preserved provide a dazzling display of design versatility and symbolic communication.
It is credited Museum purchase from Au Panier Fleuri Fund.
- Man's Cap (laket) (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- raffia.
- Museum purchase from Au Panier Fleuri Fund.
- 1957-110-14
- Man's Cap (laket) (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- raffia, wool.
- Museum purchase from Au Panier Fleuri Fund.
- 1957-110-13
- Horseman Bench, from Kassena Town series
- hand-painted white beech, mild steel interior hinges and fasteners.
- Courtesy of Dokter and Misses.
- 39.2015.1
Our curators have highlighted 1 object that are related to this one.
- Textile (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- raffia.
- Museum purchase from Au Panier Fleuri Fund.
- 1957-110-4
Its dimensions are
H x W: 73 x 46 cm (28 3/4 x 18 1/8 in.)
Cite this object as
Status Cloth (Democratic Republic of the Congo); raffia; H x W: 73 x 46 cm (28 3/4 x 18 1/8 in.); Museum purchase from Au Panier Fleuri Fund; 1957-110-2
