Bidspirit auction | Guna Mola Panel Animal-Machine Hybrid

Guna Mola Panel Animal-Machine Hybrid with Spirit Figures - Panama (Guna Yala), circa 1970s 15.75 × 19.25 inches Inventive and narrative reverse appliqué, appliqué, and hand embroidery mola panel depicting a large animal-machine hybrid — a ram-like creature fused with wheeled mechanical elements — ridden by a human figure grasping a staff or lever, rendered with wit and compositional authority against a dark ground. To the left, an architectural shrineform encloses a small frontal human spirit figure with raised arms. To the lower right, an hourglass-shaped form with biomorphic detailing occupies a stepped architectural surround. Multicolor dash-work registers fill the upper border and flanking fields. Executed in three layers of red, black, and orange cotton, with extensive embroidered detailing throughout in green, white, blue, yellow, purple, and pink. The composition reflects the Guna tradition of incorporating observed modern imagery into traditional spiritual narratives. Provenance: From the Parker & Neal Collection