The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 4, 2023

Rampant Lions Mola Panel

c. 1950–70

Republic of Panamá, Gunayala Comarca, Guna people, Gardi Coiba community

Cotton: reverse appliqué, appliqué, embroidery

Overall: 37.2 x 46 cm (14 5/8 x 18 1/8 in.)

Gift of Dr. and Mrs. F. Louis Hoover 1971.197

Location

not on view

Description

The lions on this mola are not typical of Guna mythology, but rather may draw from the European tradition of upright animals on heraldic crests. Perhaps inspired by a product label from the multitude of goods passing through the Panamá Canal, their doubling nevertheless expresses the Guna concept of asabinsidi, a term denoting two creatures facing one another.

Citations
Vazquez de Arthur, Andrea. Fashioning identity: Mola textiles of Panamá = modelar la identidad : textiles Mola de Panamá / Andrea Vazquez de Arthur. 2020. Mentioned: pp. 10-11; Reproduced: p. 12. Fig. 12
De Arthur, Andrea Vazquez. “Fashioning Identity: Native tradition meets artistic innovation in the mola textiles of Guna women.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 60, no. 4 (Fall 2020): 10-11. Reproduced: P. 10; Mentioned: P. 10-11.
Exhibition history

Year in Review: 1971. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1971-February 6, 1972).

Fashioning Identity: Mola Textiles of Panamá. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 22, 2020-January 9, 2022).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.197