The Parker & Neal Mola Collection - Part 1
Lot 270:
Description
Panama (Guna Yala), circa 1970s
14.75 × 16 inches
Iconographically significant reverse appliqué mola panel depicting the national flag of Panama — a subject well documented in Guna mola production and representing the Guna people’s acute awareness of their political context within the Panamanian state. The upper half of the composition faithfully renders the flag’s four-quadrant structure: two panels filled with alternating horizontal and vertical bars of white, red, and blue cotton, each bearing a four-pointed star appliquéd in red with concentric square center eyes — directly referencing the flag’s blue and red stars in their white fields. The rendering is characteristically Guna in execution: the stars are transformed into dynamic pinwheel forms with embroidered centers, and the striped fields are worked in densely packed hand embroidery that gives the flat national symbol a vibrating tactile energy entirely absent from its official counterpart. The lower register introduces the unmistakably Guna element — four confronting spirit figures, one in dark green and one in deep red, each with a white square eye and contour-embroidered body, flanking smaller upright animal or spirit beings with raised gestures. Small framed panels with letter-like embroidered marks appear at the lower corners. A purple boot form at lower center adds a characteristically deadpan figurative accent. The juxtaposition of the Panamanian national symbol above with indigenous spirit figures below encapsulates the Guna practice of asserting cultural identity within — and alongside — the political structures of the modern state. Executed in two layers of black and orange cotton, with extensive supplemental appliqué and hand embroidery throughout.
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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