124-A29-2 | UNI Museum @ Rod Library

Previously CS 407 2.

Displaying 1 - 4 of 4

	Catalog #	Name	Description
1	00.54.22.9	Puppet	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.
2	1973.58.2	Figurine	Square shoulders from which arms hang down at sides. Has skirt type shape from shoulders down, and from neck up, figure is in the shape of a fan. Face is sewed on in colored thread. Arouynd face is five-pointed star. Has earrings and a decorative band around top of headdress.
3	1995.21.527	Puppet	Human figure with headpiece mounted to stick. Red and black ink highlight features on the head, face, arms, stomach, and legs. Figure moves up and down on stick, pivoting where sting joins joints in shoulder, hips feet and forearms. Another stick is attached to hands along with a gun or other elongate object. Joints are thread.
4	2003.13.22	Puppet	Puppet and rod; (a) Puppet, with removable head. Red face and black hair with large head adornment. Wooden body, arms attached with metal pins. No legs. Wearing skirt and loose cloth around body. Rods connected to hands to control movement. Red eyes. (b) wooden rod used to hold puppet from the bottom. This puppet is part of the wayang golek tradition from Java. Based on key features such as the red face, bared teeth, large nose, facial hair, and straight-forward gaze it is likely that this particular figure represents a high-ranking demon from either of the Hindu epics, the Ramayana or Mahabharata. Based on the details of the ornate headdress being worn by the figure, such as the upward curl, gold detailing, and face-like figures painted onto the sides, the identity of the figure can be narrowed down to one of only a few options: the ten-headed demon king who played the role of the antagonist in the Ramayana, Ravana, or any of the three oldest of the 100 Kauravas brothers who collectively served as the primary antagonists of the Mahabharata, Duryodhana, Dushasana and Vikarna.