Bidspirit auction | Guna Mola Blouse Stylized Faces

Guna Mola Blouse Stylized Faces - Panama (Guna Yala), circa 1970s 16.5 x 16 inches A traditional Guna woman's blouse with two mola panels (front and back), worked in 3 layers of hand reverse applique, applique, and hand embroidery with rickrack trim. The blouse has a solid lime-green textured cotton yoke and puffed sleeves, a red and black neck binding, and a green polka-dot printed ruffled hem. On the front panel, embroidered faces are set within rounded medallions throughout the panel, with a central face beneath a star, human heads in profile at either side, and a face enclosed within a fish outline at the lower center. The faces are finely detailed in embroidery, each given its own expression, and they are linked by winding channels of cutwork. The back panel, a closely matched companion design, repeats the medallion faces, profile heads, star, and fish-enclosed face in a varied color arrangement. The near-mirror pairing of front and back panels reflects the practice of making a blouse's two molas as a coordinated set.