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Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.
Mola
Panamanian (Kuna)
1960s-1980s
Medium/Technique
cotton plain weave, reverse appliquéd and embroidered with cotton
Dimensions
Length x width: 33.7 × 40.6 cm (13 1/4 × 16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Emanuel Balkin
Accession Number2018.3800
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsContemporary Art, Americas, Fashion and Textiles
ClassificationsTextiles
DescriptionRectangular mola panel with deep red cotton top, reverse appliquéd with polychrome cottons to depict three large wood saws across breadth of panel, each enclosing two stacked motifs including stylized birds or turtle motifs above more abstract animorphic forms; knife motifs surmounting human figures flank the central saw on each side; ground filled with groups of vertical slits revealing blocks of polychrome cotton; motifs ornamented with embroidery in polychrome cotton thread executed in running stitch; narrow band of black cotton overlaid with red rickrack gimp at top recto.
ProvenanceBetween about 1962 and 1989, acquired by Emanuel Balkin and Lorraine Balkin (b. 1930 - d. 2017) for Décor International, Boston; 2018, gift of Emanuel Balkin to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 12, 2018)
NOTE: Emanuel and Lorraine Balkin founded and operated the gallery Décor International from 1962 until 1989.
NOTE: Emanuel and Lorraine Balkin founded and operated the gallery Décor International from 1962 until 1989.