Kuna Mola 1950s - Kit Kapp Collection - Bolivar Rum Bottle Logo

Description

This mola features the logo from a 1950's bottle of Bolivar Rum, which is a rum made in Venezuela. A very rare image, a google search will not bring up any images of Bolivar bottles from this era.  There is a man in a boat in the center of the image, and he is surrounded by two Lions of Judah. The lions are wearing crowns and waving flags, there are also images of Christian crosses. This mola is large for its time period, most likely being made for a larger man to wear originally. It measures 24w x 15h.
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.