Traditional Burmese marionette (yoke thé) with a human appearance and ornate, beaded garments. Puppet has embroidery with a combination of handsewn and machine stitching. Includes a separate swan figurine component with 6 strings that are connected to the puppet at the head, hands, and shoulders. Head, hands, and feet are carved from lightweight wood, most likely teak, and painted white with black, gold, and red details on the lips, brow, eyes, chin, feet. The figure also has remnants of hair placed in small holes placed around a painted black circle at the top of the head, based on the age of the puppet the hair used was most likely human. The puppet also has sandals, made of a combination of cloth-like material over pieces of wood or cardboard-like material.
Burmese puppets do not often represent specific characters like most other puppetry traditions in the region, instead, each puppet is made to represent an archetype, such as princess, jester, or alchemist. This particular figure most likely represents a queen or other woman of the court based on the ornate court style garment and gold accented features. The distinctive bird-shaped handle is less common for adult human puppets and would instead be more typical to find on an animal or child figure as the small size limits the number of strings that can be attached to manipulate the figure. A standard Burmese marionette utilizes 16-24 strings, but the most elaborate figures could have as many as 60, which were used to create the incredibly precise and intricate expressions, movements, and dances that are at the core of the tradition. As this figure has only six strings, all attached to the upper body, it is unlikely that it played a major role in the stories or fulfilled any of the more well-known female archetypes such as the princess, handmaid, or votaress.