Bidspirit auction | Guna Miniature ”Ulu” Canoe for

Guna Miniature ”Ulu” Canoe for Nuchu Spirit Figures - A small 13” dugout canoe (ulu) hand-carved from solid wood, with three balsa seats added.  It would have served as a spiritual transport vessel (”Ulu Nuana”) in a ceremonial shamanic ritual.  From the Guna (Kuna/Cuna) culture of Panama, collected in the Kapp Expedition period, 1961-1972. Each seat has a small hole to hold a nuchu doll upright (and two of the holes seem to be filled with broken-off pegs).  Condition includes old masking tape and a cracked seat; please see photos for details. Provenance: From the private estate collection of Captain Kit S. Kapp (1926–2013), noted American explorer, ethnologist, and cartographer. Gathered during his historic maritime and ethnographic expeditions to the San Blas Islands and Darién region of Panama between 1961 and 1972.