The Parker & Neal Mola Collection - Part 1
Lot 160:
Description
Panama (Guna Yala), circa 1970s
16.75 × 17 inches (each panel)
Boldly worked reverse appliqué, appliqué, and embroidery mola blouse, offered complete and intact in its original wearable form. Both front and back panels present closely related compositions centered on a frontally posed spirit figure with outstretched arms, each terminating in a large fan or tulip-shaped form densely filled with multicolored vertical channel work. The central figure bears a distinctive face outlined in green with embroidered white eyes, an elongated nose, and a toothed open mouth; the torso is rendered in horizontal red and white striping with a belted waist element in blue and red. The lower body splays outward into bilateral curved wing forms filled with polychrome dash embroidery. The back panel presents a related variant figure with upswept fan wings and a similarly detailed face. The entire field surrounding the figures is densely worked with vertical and horizontal dash-and-stripe embroidery in a full spectrum of colors. The yoke and gathered puffed sleeves are constructed from orange cotton corduroy; yellow and white rick-rack trim and a green band separate the yoke from the mola panels, with a lime green hem band finishing the lower edge. Executed in three layers of black, red, and orange cotton, with extensive polychrome embroidered accents in yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, pink, and white.
Provenance: From the Parker & Neal Collection.
Condition report:
Minor wear and fading consistent with age. In house Flat Rate US Shipping of $15 for 1 -10 molas, $5 each additional 10 molas. Insurance is additional and required.
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