ID Number

Title

Item Name

Culture

Material

Date Made

Place Made

Date Owned

Owner

Acquisition Date

Source

Source

Measurements

Condition

Accession Number

Iconographic Meaning

Puppet is in a student or respectable social class costume. He is difficult to identify due to his unique facial painting. He could be a clown with a slightly higher class position, ex. the dumb rich boy.

Description

Rod puppet (zhàng tóu mù ǒu), representing the character Sheng (male), with separate control rod. Head and hands of puppet (part a) are carved from wood. Components painted pink beige. Character has a wide nose, moveable eyes, large ears and painted designs on his face. The mouth is bright red, eyes are black-rimmed with black and red eyelashes. There are three red lines painted across the bridge of the nose. Eyebrows are black and light green, curling at their ends. Curvilinear motifs across forehead and comma shaped marking on the chin. The painted designs are done in black, light green and yellow. Character has a black and light green spiky moustache and the areas around the ears and back of the head are painted black, imitating hair. He is wearing a dark blue cap, with metal buttons along the bottom edge. The character is wearing a pink robe, with extended sleeves that drape down. The robe has a left side opening, secured with ties and metal buttons, and a small right side slit. Opening and neckline trimmed with two ribbons- a red and green ribbon decorated with red and pink flowers, and a white ribbon with pink, light blue and yellow flowers. White ribbon with floral decorations trims cuffs too. Robe has white floral, geometric, phoenix and dragon motifs embroidered throughout with painted and sequins designs overtop. Silver and green sequins across surface done in floral motifs, with black and yellow paint underneath. Puppet is wearing two undergarments. The first is a light blue robe, with linear and curvilinear motifs across it. Motifs done in pink and gold glitter paint. The bottom layer is plain cloth. Puppet is operated by two bamboo rods- one attached to each hand. Back of the puppet’s head has been cut out. Large bamboo rod (part b) would fit in hole along bottom of head and would control the head of the puppet.

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.