Kuna Mola 1960s - Kit Kapp Collection - Inna Puberty Ceremony

Description

This image depicts the Inna puberty ceremony. This is the most important ceremony in Kuna culture. It takes place over three days celebrating the passage in adulthood. Kuna woman play Maracas and dance as seen here, while the men would play pan flute music. The original Kit Kapp tag still remains intact. It states that this mola is from "Carti Suctupu" and is described by him as an "Uchu" mola. The tag is dated April 1970. This mola was made in the 1960s and measures 20w x16h.
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.