Bidspirit auction | Guna Mola Panel with Mythological

Guna Mola Panel with Mythological Soulbird - Panama (Guna Yala), Circa 1970s 17 × 22 inches A large mythic Soulbird dominates the composition, rendered in red and pink against an olive-gray ground. The bird faces right with a prominent curved beak, a radiant white eye surrounded by embroidered lashes, and layered wing feathers in gray, yellow, and purple. The body encloses a rounded basket form filled with multicolored slit-work and a central egg motif outlined in white rickrack embroidery. The bird's broad tail feathers contain fish depicted in appliqué with embroidered skeletal detail. Smaller subsidiary figures fill the corners, including a small bird at lower left, a cross-form figure at lower right, and two circular medallions with organic cutwork. Multicolored slit-work fill bars in cyan, pink, orange, yellow, green, and lavender enliven the surrounding field. Embroidered chain-stitch and running-stitch accents throughout. A richly layered narrative composition with strong iconographic content. Similar photos of this mola can be found on pages 84 & 85 of MOLAS Folk Art of the Cuna Indians by Parker and Neal. Provenance: From the Parker & Neal Collection