Marionette
Category
Toys
Date
Unknown
Materials
Wood and modelling material.
Measurements
Skeleton - 620 mm (height), First piece of wood - 206 mm (length), Second piece of wood - 390 mm (length), Third piece of wood - 608 mm (length)
Order this imageCollection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 661599
Summary
One of the puppets made for and used by the ‘Lilliput Marionette Theatre’. This marionette has been identified as the 'Breakaway Skeleton' and is from a play entitled 'The Lost Princess' or 'Kalif (Caliph) Stork' and also used in the play 'Hansel and Gretel'. It was also used in the play entitled 'Faust'. It comes with part of a control. The skeleton has a white painted wooden skull with hollow eye and nose sockets and a jointed jaw. The 'body' of the skeleton is white painted wood and seems to be missing a ribcage. The arms are jointed at the elbow, wrists and the legs are jointed at the knees and ankles. The right foot seems to have been repaired with a new moulding material toe. The skeleton is joined together with tangled black thread only, which is wrapped around a wooden block. Painted metal hooks are at the top of each body part. Separate to the puppet are three pieces of white painted wood of differing lengths. Total number of items is 4.
Provenance
Donated to the Museum of Childhood by Mr E Hellawell in 1982.