Description: Made from fabric apliques, all but one is unframed. They originate from San Blas Island, Panama.


History: The mola or molas, forms part of the traditional outfit of a Kuna woman, two mola panels being incorporated as front and back panels in a blouse. The full costume traditionally includes a patterned wrapped skirt (saburet), a red and yellow headscarf (musue), arm and leg beads (wini), a gold nose ring (olasu) and earrings in addition to the mola blouse (dulemor).
How they make the Molas: Reverse applique has been used to make a mola since Victorian times. A mola maker places two or three pieces of different colored cloth on top of each other and bastes them together. Then she cuts into the top layer, cutting out her design (she may have drawn her design first in pencil, but often she just follows the idea in her head.) Only the bottom layer remains intact to be the background color and support the stitching of the other pieces. She hems all the cut edges with very fine stitches, making sure that her thread exactly matches the color of the cloth. The color of each lower level creates the outline of the design. She may then add additional elements - decorative embroidery, positive appliqué, slits showing different colors from cloth that has been inserted between layers - to complete these intricate designs.

Provenance: Lorber Estate, Palm Beach, FL


Dimensions: Weight (Pounds & Ounces) = 12 | Height(in) = 22 | Width(in) = 28 | Depth(in) = 8

Size of Artwork(in): 20.5 x 25.5 x 1.75" Largest


Artist Name: Kuna


Medium: Fabric


Circa: 20th Century

Very good condition. The Crab and Lobster mola is framed but does not have glass.