Marionette
Category
Toys
Date
Unknown
Materials
Wood, metal, cotton thread, silk, wool, mohair and cotton
Measurements
595 mm (approx. height)
Order this imageCollection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 661610
Summary
One of the puppets made for and used by the ‘Lilliput Marionette Theatre’. This marionette was identified as a 'male character' and is from a play entitled 'A Christmas Carol'. The marionette puppet is made as a scary man with long arms, in a pale blue jacket, with its wooden and metal control attached. Its strings are made from strong cotton thread and are quite tangled. He has a wooden head with carved and painted facial features. He is jointed at the shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, knees and ankles, with metal joints. One of his feet has broken off at the ankle joint. His head is attached to his body by means of thick white cord threaded through two small metal loops in his head and one large one at the base of his neck. His body is made from wood with modelling material hands, which are cracked. His face and hands are painted in pink skin colour, except for one finger which may have been repaired, as it is yellow and unpainted. He has a large pointed nose and thick black eyebrows. His hair is black mohair glued on. He is wearing a short-waisted turquoise woollen tail coat whose tail section is lined with lilac silk, over a blue and light brown triangle-patterned waistcoat. Under this, his shirt is made from cream mercerised cotton with a stiff wing collar, with a blue velvet band around the neck. There are four small blue buttons down the front, two on the visible section of shirt and two on the section of waistcoat which protrudes below the jacket front. His trousers are made from mid blue wool, and his shoes are made from black leather with metal heels. There is some old sellotape wrapped around the detached foot's shoe, but it is unclear whether this is because of damage.
Provenance
Donated to the Museum of Childhood by Mr E Hellawell in 1982.