Woman's ceremonial overskirt
Secured with a belt, this delicately embroidered wraparound skirt was layered over a paler gold underskirt. Such sumptuous ceremonial garments accented the ensembles worn by elite women in dance. Their performances have accompanied initiation and investiture rites, as well as reenactments of creation by the supreme deity Mboom. Female artists achieve the dense geometric interlace by painstakingly embroidering short strands of natural and dyed fibers. They then shave the surface of the embroidery to create a velvety pile. The quality and elaboration invested in an overskirt depend on the rank of the intended wearer, reinforcing the hierarchical social structures that defined the Kuba court between the nineteenth and mid-twentieth century.
Artwork Details
- Title: Woman's ceremonial overskirt
- Artist: Kuba artist
- Date: ca. 1900
- Geography: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sankuru River region
- Culture: Kuba peoples
- Medium: Raffia palm fiber, dye
- Dimensions: H. 22 x W. 48 in.
- Classification: Textiles-Woven
- Credit Line: Gift of William B. Goldstein, 1999
- Object Number: 1999.522.14
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing
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Kuba artist
early–mid-20th century
Kuba artist
first half of 20th century
Kuba artist
late 19th–mid 20th century
Kuba artist
20th century
Kuba artist
19th–first half of 20th century
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