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Description

Rod puppet (zhàng tóu mù ǒu), representing the character Judge Bao, with separate headdress. Head and hands of puppet (part a) are carved from wood. Hands painted beige. Character has a wide nose, large ears and a white painted face, with additional decoration. Chin, nose and cheeks are painted black, mouth is bright red. Black inverted triangle on forehead, with wide diagonal lines over eyes. Red and white circle in centre of forehead, on triangle. Eyes are black-rimmed with eyelashes. Back of head is painted black, imitating hair. The puppet's head is hollow. Rim of hollow opening is unpainted. The character is wearing a pink robe, with extended sleeves that drape down. The robe has a left side opening, secured with ties, and a small right side slit. Opening and neckline bordered with red on front of robe, opening and side slit bordered with dark yellow on back. Cuffs and opening, on front, also have light pink scalloped ribbon trim with pink, pale blue and light yellow flowers embroidered on them. Robe has white floral and geometric motifs embroidered throughout with painted and sequin designs overtop. Silver sequins across surface done in curvilinear and linear motifs, with black, green and yellow paint underneath. Central motif of a dragon done in silver sequins with black and dark green paint highlights. Eyes are made of large silver sequins, with smaller blue ones in their centres. Golden tube beads around head. Body outlined with red wavy bands. Plaid undergarment beneath robe. Puppet is operated by two bamboo rods- one large rod attached to his head, and one detached rod (part d) that would attach to a hand. One rod is missing. Back of puppet’s head was cut out and re-attached. Headdress (part b) is made of cardboard and metal mesh, and covered in black fabric. Headdress is cylindrical, with a rounded front and two wing-like attachments at the back. One wing (part c) is detached. Central design on headdress of one large silver sequin, surrounded by smaller ones, with white beads. The front edge of the headdress is trimmed in a glittery pink ribbon. Both wings are black and bordered with the same pink ribbon. In their centres, on both the top and bottom, are white characters. Interior of headdress is painted red. There are two plain ties on either side of the headdress.

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.

Iconographic Meaning

Puppet also represents character Huan Lian (painted face).

Item History

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