The Parker & Neal Mola Collection - Part 1
Lot 267:
Description
Panama (Guna Yala), circa 1970s
14.5 × 17 inches
Reverse appliqué mola panel depicting three large frontal fish arranged in a frieze across the deep red ground, each rendered with large white-outlined eyes, a short rounded snout, and a dramatically full body entirely covered in a grid of individually worked diamond and square scale forms, each outlined in a different color — yellow, blue, green, pink, orange, purple, teal, and brown — with a small embroidered chevron at the center of each scale. The cumulative effect of these densely packed, multicolored scales across three large bodies creates an extraordinary optical field of color and pattern that is among the most technically demanding approaches in the Guna textile tradition, the scalloped black outlines at the body edges further suggesting the rippled profile of fins. Between the adult fish in the lower register, two small figures nestle close — one outlined in green, the other in purple — each with an embroidered eye and individual interior detailing. Between the central and flanking fish, two four-petaled star forms in blue and orange provide visual punctuation. The base of each large fish features multicolored chevron embroidery stitched in rows suggestive of tail fins. The upper border carries a continuous Greek key meander in multicolored appliqué on black — a classical decorative device absorbed into the Guna visual vocabulary — surmounted by a strip of commercial printed cotton in green with multicolored dot patterning. Multicolored bar-and-dash embroidery fills the surrounding ground throughout. Executed in three layers of red, black, and orange cotton, with extensive supplemental appliqué and hand embroidery throughout.
Provenance: From the Parker & Neal Collection.
Condition report:
Minor wear consistent with age. Vibrant color. 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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