Glove puppet
Hadley House Crafts
Category
Toys
Date
Unknown
Materials
Cotton, felt, wood and composition or plaster
Measurements
Each clown - 140 mm (height), Jester - 192 mm (height)
Place of origin
England
Collection
Sudbury Hall Museum of Childhood, Derbyshire
NT 664723
Summary
Two push-up toy clowns, each with wooden ball heads with painted facial features. The heads have been covered with a piece of nylon tights material stretched tight. A small piece of padding has been placed inside the tights material to form a 3D nose. Each clown has black hair, possibly mohair. One wears a red, orange and green cotton floral printed clown's suit. The base of the suit is glued to the top of a cone covered in orange felt. At the tapered point of the cone is a hole where a wooden stick would have been inserted, enabling one to push the clown in and out of the cone base. The other clown wears a blue, green, yellow and white printed suit attached to a cone covered in green felt. This cone still has the remains of its push-up stick. Each clown has white felt hands and a white lace ruff. There is also a jester glove puppet with a composition or plaster head with moulded and painted facial features. It has white felt hands, one of which is holding a wooden drum stick. It is wearing a jester's outfit, half in red felt, half in yellow felt. On the top of his conical shaped hat is a metal bell. Around his neck is a white lace ruff. There are two sequins on the front of the outfit. Total number of items is 3.
Marks and inscriptions
Label sewn onto the inside of the jester and the blue clown: 'HAND MADE IN ENGLAND BY/ Hadley House Crafts'
Makers and roles
Hadley House Crafts , maker