This cut-pile textile has closely-set, tight embroidery in brown and cream geometric designs. They are known as Kasai velvets, woven of raffia palm fiber that has been soaked and beaten to create the velvet-like texture. Once the cloth was woven by men on a small loom, women embroidered it with designs that transmitted information about family history, myths, and moral lessons. Such cloths were used to cover the king's throne or placed under his feet, or as dowries and burial cloths.
