Kuna Mola 1940s - Kit Kapp Collection - Worship The Bird God

Description

Like a
phoenix rising, this mola features a mythical giant bird
with
enchanted
people at her base. A stunning mola, that surely has an ages old tale tied to it.  What did the giant bird god mean to the Kuna? I do not know, however the people at its base seem to dance and celebrate its presence. The
exquisite
detail on the human
characters
make this one very special to me. This Mola measures 17w x30h
The Kit Kapp Collection.
Kit Kapp was a cartographer who was hired to map the San Blas Islands in 1960. He quickly fell in love with the Kuna people and their art, and organized numerous lengthy expeditions to the islands over an 11 year period where he purchased thousands of molas and hundreds of Kuna nuchu carvings, as well as jewelry, basketry and other artifacts. In 1972 he published the seminal book
Mola Art of the San Blas Islands,
which is still one of the best reference books on the subject. Kit died in 2014. Between 1999 and 2016 we purchased the entire remainder of the Kapp Kuna collection.