Old African Congo Kuba Loincloth (b)
…beautiful collection piece
Old African Congo Kuba Loincloth (b), a beautiful collection piece…
One of two listed separately… Kuba cloth is a kind of textile fabric made in Kasai, a province in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (Zaïre). Traditionally, the weaving is done by men
of the Shoowa from the Kuba ethnic group, while the embroidery is
reserved to women. Ideally, the embroiderers should be pregnant. The technique
is still practiced.
The Kuba
Kingdom, also rendered as the Kingdom of the Bakuba or Bushongo, was a pre-colonial kingdom in Central
Africa. The Kuba Kingdom flourished between the 17th and 19th
centuries in the region bordered by the Sankuru, Lulua, and Kasai
rivers in the south-east of the modern-day Democratic Republic of the
Congo.
The Kuba Kingdom was a conglomerate of several
smaller Bushongo-speaking principalities as well as the Kete, Coofa, Mbeengi,
and the Twa Pygmies. The original Kuba migrated during the 16th century
from the north. Nineteen different ethnic groups are included in the kingdom,
which still exists and is presided over by the King (nyim).
Originally the cloth was made using beaten wood
bark but, since the introduction of raffia, only vestiges of this remain.
Some belts (duun) are still made in bark; they symbolize power and may be worn
only by certain nobles. Bark is still used for certain loincloths for women
(Ishyeen). The center of these loincloths is formed of many triangles of bark,
alternately black and white. These are cut out of the raw bark either natural,
or dyed black and sewn together. The choice of this method rather than that of drawing
is significant - for the Kuba, value is measured by a work's difficulty.
The fabric
is made of very fine fiber from the inside of the leaves of young palm
trees. The leaves are dried in the sun, then split along their length and
connected to form a basic warp of raffia, from 2m to 4m in length. Fine leaf fibers
are then interweaved in a woof to create the velvet effect.
This is then wrapped around the waist to create a loincloth known as Mapel (for
men) or Ntshak (for women).
The designs
are very varied and are created spontaneously but normally follow the body
scarification patterns of the Kuba.
The cloth is
heavy and expensive and is not normally intended to be worn, but is used as a
bed covering or on the royal throne. Individual items take from several months
to a year to produce. Cloths were used as currency or given as gifts.
Please see detail photos which form part of
the description… Note; Small repair, dose not distract but must be mentioned, please review all photos carefully... STU/B4
The measurements are
Size: 61 cm High X 65 cm
Wide
Please email me with any questions or for a delivery quote
…or pick up from
Miranda in Sydney South
International Buyers email me for a
Shipping Quote
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feedback and will bend over backwards to achieve this. Any idem that is
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NOTE
Many of the items for sale at Jim’s International Bazaar
were collected by Jim on his around the world adventures as an author,
photojournalist and photographer. They include Turkish rugs, copper and
brass, and artifacts from
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER
James Anderson
is an internationally renowned photojournalist and
adventurer, with two major photographic books (New Guinea & Cannibal), plus
covers and major spreads in a whole host of internationally prestigious
magazines from Life International to The Geographic and Argosy.
He's been shipwrecked in the Pacific, wrestled camels in
A blue-water yachtsman, he sailed his own 60ft yacht, the
"Moana Vahine", from Hong Kong to Southern Turkey, down the South
China Sea, across the Indian Ocean, and up the full length of the Red Sea, via
Singapore, Panang, Sri lanki, The Maldive Islands, and French Djibouti. An avid
diver and spear fisherman, he mounted a series of diving expeditions in The
In addition to several years in