Mbun Woman’s Skirt
DR Congo
Late 19th to early 20th century
Raffia, float-derived patterning, embroidery
42.5 x 29.5 inches (108 x 72 cm)
Collected in The Congo by the Belgian administrator Emile Lejeune in 1905
Mbun skirts are made from as many as twelve individually woven panels of raffia woven that are seamed together.
While the centerfield is loom patterned (a rare feature in Congolese raffia textiles), imparting a subtle texture to the mellowed golden surface, the crisp, dark borders are embroidered with striking geometric designs that are ritually associated with matrilineal ancestry. Emil Torday collected a number of these skirts and borders for the British Museum during the same period as Lejeune (circa 1907).
Price on request
