Marionette
Category
Toys
Date
Unknown
Materials
Wood, plaster and cotton.
Measurements
780 mm (height)
Order this imageCollection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 661567
Summary
One of the puppets made for and used by the ‘Lilliput Marionette Theatre’. This marionette has been identified as a 'snake charmer, palace guard and Saleem' and is from a play entitled 'The Lost Princess' or 'Kalif (Caliph) Stork'. The marionette is without a control. He has a plaster face on top of wood with painted and moulded facial features. His mouth has a hole in it in which to place his musical instrument. He is jointed at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, knees and ankles, with metal joints. He has black skin with black artificial threaded hair and is wearing a yellow turban. He is wearing a yellow-orange spotted, long, sleeveless jacket with a collarless white cotton shirt. His trousers are a thick orange-brown cotton with a yellow belt tied around his waist. His legs and feet are bare. His body is made out of wood with modelling material hands. The musical instrument is green painted wood with holes. It is balanced through his right hand and his left hand is made to hold it. Nylon fishing line is threaded through various places and is very tangled around the puppet's head.
Provenance
Donated to the Museum of Childhood by Mr E Hellawell in 1982.