Archives for category: puppet
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Wayang Golek – Abimanyu

04/29/2013 //
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indonesian puppet

W150xD150xH550mm, Indonesia

Wayang golek is the traditional West Javanese performance of the wooden rod puppet.

Here is a wonderful documentary about the Wayang golek.

The character of this puppet is Abhimanyu, the tragic hero in the Hindu epic Mahabharata.  Son of Arjuna and Subhadra, like his father he was both courageous and a good fighter.  Abhimanyu’s education of becoming a warrior started when he was still in womb of  Subhadra, his father would go through in length different battle formation.  Unfortunately at Subhadra has fallen asleep when it came to the exiting of Chakravyuha and Abhimanyu failed to gain the knowledge and there on the 13th day of the battle he was killed.

Come to see the Asian Folkcraft Collection!

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Categories figurine, Mountain Folkcraft X Soil, puppet, wood

Puppet Head – Qing Hua Junior

02/20/2013 //
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W40xD50xH100mm, China

This puppet head is that of a glove puppet, it is of the character Qing Hua Junior of the Jing (painted face) catergory.  Qing Hua Junior can portrait characters of a villain or a hero with an explosive attitude.

The making of the puppet starts from selection of Zhang wood (Cinnamomum Camphora), apart from the nature of the wood its also has a function of being a wood pesticide, the required size would be taken out and together with the trimming to the rough form all done by use of a hammer.  The details are then carved out, once the carving is completed a thin layer of white slip is applied as a filler to smooth out the knots of the wood.  The base colour is then sprayed by a mouth piece and the features hand painted.  If there are hair to the puppet, it would be added at the final stage.

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Categories puppet, wood

Shadow Puppet – Sbek Toch

12/05/2012 //
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W250xH350mm, Cambodia

There are broadly 2 types of shadow puppets in Cambodia, Sbek Thom and Sbek Toch.  Sbek Thom are large shadow puppets, the leather part can get up to 1.5-2m tall and 1.5m wide.  The puppeteers for Sbek Thom are part of the performance and are not in disguised, they dances in front and behind of the screen; the epic Ramayana is performed.  This shadow puppet belongs to the Sbek Toch genres, they are smaller and usually tell the folktales based on everyday life (unlike Sbek Thom which has a religious significant). 

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Categories leather / feather, puppet

Puppet Head – Gong Guang

11/23/2012 //
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W40xD50xH100mm, China

This glove puppet head is of the character Gong Guang, belonging to the Jing (painted face) category, a supporting actor in today’s term but always representing a figure who is upright, loyal, strong and fearless of high power, it is denoted by the word Guang and the red face (gong).   He would play the character of a courageous warrior  such as JianWei of the 3 Kingdom.

The puppet is carved out from a single piece of wood and with hand painted features.

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Categories puppet, wood

Shadow Puppet – Tualen

09/26/2012 //
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W200xH600mm, Indonesia

This shadow puppet is Tualen, the father of Merdah, they are both servants of Rama.  Tualen used to be a god but he was punished for a mistake he made and was send down from heaven to be a human with black skin.  Being a god, Tualen is wise and kind.  The Balinese believe that by giving their baby holy water of Tualen, their child will be wise like Tualen.

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Categories leather / feather, puppet

Puppet Head

07/28/2012 //
3

H100xW50xD60mm, China

Wonder what a villain looks like?  This is a typical villain of the Chinese glove puppet, all villains have a white painted face with black features.  A word of caution: the white face villains came in all different ages, from a young chap to the bad government official and finally the elderly villain.  The shown in the photo here is one of the main villain in a puppet show, someone who has high power and no fear, for example, a prime minister who gave manipulate the emperor  etc.

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Categories figurine, puppet, wood

Chaozhou Wire Puppet

05/23/2012 //
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H500xW150mm, China

This puppet is called a Chaozhou wire puppet, the body of the puppet is supported by a main wire attached to the back of waistline of the puppet while the 2 arms are controlled by 2 wires attached to the waists, hence wire puppet, all the 3 wires are controlled by the puppeteer at the back stage.

There are over 2000 repertoires for the chaozhou wire puppet, these are roughly divided into 3 main themes; adaptation from the southern Chinese opera, local legends and historical stories.  This puppet has the warrior helmet featured in the blog a couple of days ago, a female warrior figure.

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Categories clay, figurine, puppet, wood

Glove Puppet

05/15/2012 //
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W300xH450mm, China

This glove puppet character is called Di Lei, within the show (opera) he belongs to Jing (painted face) category.  Di Lei, is courageous fighter but lacking in tactics, he is one of the 4 hammer warriors of the famous Sung general Yue Fei.  With extraordinary strength, he is known as the iron hammer warrior.

The head of the puppet (as well as its eyes and mouth) is controlled with the index finger, while the thumb would control one arm and the rest of the 3 fingers control the other arm.  The thumb will also control the turn of the head while palm of the hand will control the waist and leg gestures.  As the puppet is manipulated with one hand, one puppet master can have 2 puppets on the show at the same time.

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Categories figurine, puppet, wood

Shadow Puppet

04/01/2012 //
0

W130xH220mm, Cambodia

This is a shadow puppet used for the show Reamker which was based on the Sanskrit’s Ramayana epic.  The Reamker is a popular legend for the Khmer people, loved by the common people and the kings a like.  The story is carved into the walls in Angkor Wat and in Banteay Srei  and over the Khmer New Year (13-16 April) and the King’s birthday (13-15 May) when the shadow puppet show will be performed.

 The story of Reamker is about the balance of good and evil in the world; Prince Rama was sent into exile by one of the queen mother who has her eye on the throne for her son, Rama was joined by his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana.  In the forest the female rakshasa Surphanakha tried to seduce the 2 brothers, Lakshmana being annoyed by Surphanakha cut off her ear and nose, this angered the demon who went to ask her brother Ravana to help her revenge.  Ravana (the Lord of island Lanka) was attracted by the beauty of Sita kidnapped her.  Rama and Lakshmana striked a deal with the monkey king Sugriva, they helped Sugriva to regain his kingdom from his brother Vali while Sugriva send the monkey warriors lead by Hanuman to help with their search of Sita.  Hanuman start building a stone bridge to cross to Lanka but found out that mermaids were secretly taking away the stones, he decide to capture the mermaid princess Neang Machha but instead they fell madly in love with each other. The bridge was completed, Rama and Ravana started a battle, wiht Hanuman’s help Rama won, rescued Sita and got the throne.

@ the western gopura of Banteay Srei

@ outer gallery of Angkor Wat

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Categories leather / feather, puppet

Glover Puppet

02/08/2012 //
0

W300xH450mm, China

The head, feet and hands of the glove puppet is made of wood and its body and arms in a fabric formed glove.  For the right hand control puppet, with the whole hand in the glove, the thumb would go into the left arm of the puppet, the index finger in the head and the remaining 3 fingers in the right arm of the puppet.  As the puppet is directly control by the hand, fine mechanism can be built into the head for the control of the eye, the mouth etc.  As in all theatre, the characters of the glove puppet show can be classified into 7 category and each with its many subtypes;  the Sheng (male role), the Dan (female role), the Jing (the painted face strong character), the Chou (clown), the Xian (saint), the Guai (monster).

The puppet here is of the saint category,  Ling Guan, he is a Taoist saint who used to be bad temple god who would eat children for a meal.  A powerful wizard tamed him with a flying fire charm and set his eyes on fire.  Ling Guan was upset and filed a complaint to the Jade Emperor who compensated him with a golden whip and a third eye of wisdom, he was also allowed to follow wizard and take his revenge if he found the wizard doing a bad deed.  12 years he followed the wizard and the wizard only do good and no wrong, Ling Guan was moved, instead of hoping for his revenge he became a disciple of the wizard.

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Categories fabric, figurine, puppet, wood
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