Raffia fabric, embroidered with geometric motifs and used as a skirt by Nyimi, king of the Bushongo

Raffia fabric with embroidery, a so-called Kasai fabric, after the original geographical origin of the cloth. Such fabrics are used as dowries, worn as garments, or intended as grave goods. The band was probably sewn to or onto a larger raffia fabric, perhaps a skirt or shawl. Such bands serve as decoration to the plain raffia fabric in linen weave. \Each cloth has a symbolic meaning and is at lea…