c. 1950–70
Cotton: reverse appliqué, appliqué, embroidery
Overall: 43.8 x 55.3 cm (17 1/4 x 21 3/4 in.)
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. F. Louis Hoover 1971.217
Guna standards of beauty are
inseparable from technique—the best
molas are challenging to execute and
filled with laborious embellishments
that enhance a mola’s splendor and
bring prestige to its maker. Each filler,
or decorative element, has a specific,
doubled-syllable name. Das-das are
short, parallel slits; idi-idi and ada-ada
refer to lines edged with squared and
triangular teeth, respectively; and
wawa-naled are tiny triangles created
by adding fabric (so-called pips) or
cutting it away (nips).
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