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History Of Use

The celebrated rod puppets of the Guangdong Province on the south coast of China have a long history. They became popular during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). Generally referred to as ‘ghost opera’ (qui-a-xi), this form of rod puppetry shares many characteristics with Cantonese Opera. There are the four standard categories of performer: male (sang/sheng), female (daan/dan), clown (cau/chou) and painted faces (zing/jing), often reserved for martial or fighting characters. They wear elaborately embroidered costumes and perform classical Chinese legends and histories, with dramatic and stylized acrobatics, movements, voices and gestures. The likeness of the rod puppets to their human counterparts is enhanced further by the clever mechanisms that move the eyes and mouth. Like all forms of Asian theatre and puppetry, music is also an essential part of the performance: the accompanying orchestra generally consists of gongs, drums, violins and reed instruments. Almost every performance of puppet theatre in Guangdong is part of religious festivities. The stage is built opposite a temple or shrine. A performance usually starts with ritual blessings to bring peace and prosperity to the local community.

Description

Rod puppet (zhàng tóu mù ǒu), representing the character Lao Sheng (old male), with a separate beard and headdress. Head and hands of puppet (part a) are carved from wood. Head and torso painted pink beige. Character has a long nose and ears. The mouth is painted dark red, eyes are black-rimmed. Eyebrows are black, streaked with silver, and there is black paint around the head, imitating hair. The character is wearing a green robe, with extended sleeves that drape down. The robe has a left side opening, secured with ties, and a small right side slit. The sides of the robe have pink panels. Curvilinear and geometric motifs across robe, done in silver, dark pink-purple, red and yellow sequins. Dragon(?) design in dark pink-purple and silver sequins on both front and back centre of robe. Plaid undergarment beneath robe. Character has a matching collar, that secures at the front, with white animal hair(?) along bottom edge. Collar has wavy ribbon borders done in white and light pink. There are curvilinear motifs in silver and dark pink-purple throughout. The puppet's head is hollow. Rim of hollow opening is unpainted. Puppet is operated by three bamboo rods- one large rod attached to his head, and two more are attached to each hand. Beard (part b) consists of long white fibre attached to a wire covered with string. Shaped to fit over ears and below mouth of puppet. Headdress (part c) is made of cardboard, with a metal frame, and is covered in light blue fabric. Headdress consists of a cap and backboard. The backboard is semi-circular, has green and yellow wavy ribbon borders and floral motifs done in silver and dark pink-purple sequins. The reverse of the backboard curves outwards, shaped by metal mesh, and has a floral motif done in silver and light blue sequins. Below is a solid band of light blue fabric with a curvilinear motif done in silver sequins. The cap component of the headdress, at the front, is shaped with metal mesh and has a large floral motif overtop of it. Motif done in gold glitter paint and silver and light blue sequins, with a green rhinestone at the centre. The bottom edge of the cap has a wavy green ribbon border and a band of silver sequins with yellow beads. There are two wing-like attachments at the back of the headdress. They are light blue, have no centre and the edges are lined with metal beads. Interior of headdress is painted silver. There are two red ties on either side of the headdress.

Iconographic Meaning

Puppet represents an older statesman at the court.