Skirt (Nshak)

ClassificationsClothing and Adornments-principal attire (lower body)

Culture Kuba

Dateearly to mid 20th Century

Made AtDemocratic Republic of the Congo, Africa

MediumRaffia, cotton, and pigment

Dimensions23 1/8 × 97 in. (58.7 × 246.4 cm)

Credit LineGift of Anne and Long Shung Shih

Object number2019.15.44

DescriptionNshak are midcalf-length skirts worn by Kuba women in the Democratic Republic of Congo made of red and white raffia weaving. Usually, men will make the base cloth, a process that includes dyeing and softening raffia leaves and then weaving them into cloth, and women will decorate the skirts with embroidery in black thread or patches of cloth. Nshak are often betrothal gifts woven for a bride by her husband-to-be and decorated by his female relatives.

Likened at times to jazz, these textiles can be equal parts repetition and improvisation. This juxtaposition reveals itself in the disruptions to this skirt’s checkerboard pattern with the addition of diamonds and appliquéd abstract shapes.

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