Man’s Royal Enthronement Skirt

CultureKuba peoples, Bushoong subgroup

Date1900s

MediumRaffia fiber, cotton, and pigment

DimensionsOverall: 30 × 354 1/2 inches (76.2 × 900.43 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: the Shirley and Barnett Helzberg Fund in support of the African Art department

Object number2018.59.2

On View

Not on view

Collections

African Art

Terms

DescriptionThis royal enthronement skirt is handwoven raffia with a checkered border and cut-pile raffia tassels. The 30ft long skirt was worn wrapped around the lower body and tied off at the waist with a raffia belt. The textile consists mainly of red-dyed fabric, and features a significant amount of openwork embroidery. The embroidery pattern is a series of diamond shapes and is surrounded by open lattice work. The red fabric was woven in small sections that were then hand stitched together to create the full length. The border along the edges of the skirt is a checkered pattern of dark indigo and tan squares. Some sections of the checked border are substituted with a pattern of dark brown and tan instead of the blue. The brown squares have openings created by the folding and sewing of the inner section of cloth. Raffia tassels in the shape of small pompoms are attached to the checked border. The tassels are stitched to small tabs that were cut into the edge of the textile. The short ends are finished with the cut-pile raffia decoration wrapped around the edges. The trim and tassels are pile-cut to give the material a velvety texture.
Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Kuba Textiles: Geometry in Form, Space and Time, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, SUNY, Purchase, NY, March 1-June 14, 2015, no. 15.

Provenance

The family of Georges Kwete, son-in-law of Nyim Kwet Mabiinc maKyeen, Kuba regent, early 1980s [1];

Purchased from the family of Georges Kwete by the dealer Pierre Loos, Brussels, Belgium, by 1990 [2];

Purchased from Loos by the dealer Andres Moraga, Berkeley, CA, 1990-2018;

Purchased from Andres Moraga by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2018.

NOTES:

[1] According to Andres Moraga, in documentation provided at the time of the object’s purchase, NAMA curatorial files, Georges Kwete was the son-in-law of a Kuba regent, Nyim Kwet Mobiinc maKyenn, who was the son of King Mbopey Mabiintsh-ma Kyeen (1939-1969). Georges Kwete was married to Colette Kwete, who was the daughter of the regent and therefore the granddaughter of the Nyim Mabiintsh-ma Kyeen. This provenance is also published in Marie-Thérèse Brincard, ed., Kuba Textiles: Geometry in Form, Space, and Time, exh. cat. (Neuberger Museum of Art, 2015), 88.

[2] According to Andres Moraga, in email correspondence with Rachel Kabukala, Curatorial Assistant, June 28, 2018, NAMA curatorial files, this textile “…came from a well-known Belgian dealer, Mr. Pierre Loos, with whom I worked closely on developing the market for Kuba textiles starting in 1982. The active period was between 1982 and 1990…. The “Enthronement Skirt” was purchased by Mr. Loos in Brussels directly from a member of the Kuba Regent’s family.”

Published References

Haus der Kulturen der Welt, ed., Traumzeichen: Raphiagewebe des Königreichs Bakuba (Munich: Verlag Fred Jahn, 1989), 74-75, (repro.).

Marie-Thérèse Brincard, ed., Kuba Textiles: Geometry in Form, Space, and Time, exh. cat. (Neuberger Museum of Art, 2015), 10, 37, 88-89, (repro.).

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