Prague Marionette
Citation
Unknown, Prague possibly, “Prague Marionette,” Student Digital Gallery, accessed October 14, 2024, https://digitalgallery.bgsu.edu/student/items/show/13170.
| Title | Prague Marionette |
|---|---|
| Subject | Hand Carved, Armor, Europe, Prague, 1990s |
| Description | Materials- Five pieces of hand-carved wood, unknown type (one piece for body, head, and hat, legs x2, hands x2) Brass shield, galvanized steel sword, copper breast plates and shoulder pauldrons, brass foot and leg greaves. orange and white cotton arms, blue and purple silk or satin skirt. Hands nailed x3 at the wrists to one piece of cloth to make each arm. Almond shaped shield hand, square right hand. Crudely carved fingers. 1 nail attaching shield to hand, sword hilt fit straight into hand with no nail. 1 nail attaches each arm to body. 2 nails per pauldron, 4 nails attaching two pieces of copper to each other and the wood body. Hands, face, and hat are hand painted. Hat and head carved out of same piece of wood as body. Legs attached to body with thick metal wire, allowing 45-60° of backward movement, almost no forward movement. Right leg is looser than left, with 15-30° forward movement. 2 nails for each leg greave, 4 nails for each shoe. Legs carved inward at knee to give shape. Unclear if leg wood is stained or just a darker wood than the body. Minor fraying of skirt with small puncture holes. Skirt hand stitched in the back, arms stitched at the bottom to hide seam. Thick wire loop sticking out of top of head, similar wire to the joint for the legs. |
| Creator | Unknown, Prague possibly |
| Date | Unknown, c. 1991-1999 |
| Contributor | Meta-data written by Benjamin Thomason. Gift of Chris Seidman. |
| Format | 15 inches tall, foot to top of wire loop sticking out of top of hat 2 1/2 inches wide at the head, 1 3/4 inches wide at legs |
| image/jpeg | |
| Type | Still Image |
| Abstract | This marionette doll was produced in the Czech Republic, purchased in Prague in the late 1990s and brought to America. The wooden body pieces are all hand carved. Each piece of clothing as well as armor made of copper and brass and sword made of corrugated steel is cut and nailed to the wood with simple tools. For over two hundred years puppetry became a national tradition for the Czech people, with the most popular play in the Prague National Marionette Theater being Don Giovanni. Made to resemble a Turkic warrior, this puppet could have been voiced by a baritone singer in an epic opera, or something more comedic for adults and children alike. Being simpler, with only four points of articulation for movement, and more crudely carved and painted than contemporary professional theater puppets, it was more likely used in smaller comedic roles or even sold to tourists. |
| Identifier | https://digitalgallery.bgsu.edu/student/items/show/13170 |