Description

Burmese Horse Puppet Marionette String Folk Art 1900’s ? Vintage Kids Toy Burma. Condition is "Used". Broken, needs repair. Shipped with USPS Priority Mail. Last picture is one I found online of a similar horse that is up for sale. I have researched these types of puppets and I saw a very similar one from the 19th century. I can’t be sure how old this one is. I did not have it appraised, so please do some research first. This was donated to our Church of Christ Community Resource Ministry to raise funds for the ministry. Burmese puppet makers were responsible for the making of stringed marionettes (yok-thei) for theatrical performances known as yok-thei-pwe. Such performances were very popular in Burma in the 19th and early 20th centuries an were intended for adults. The performances drew upon the Jataka stories, Burmese history, fables and legends (Fraser-Lu, 1994, p. 98). Plays were typically performed on a bamboo stage that was generally devoid of props, and they were accompanied by a Burmese orchestra. The precise number of puppets used varied from troupe to troupe but typically a set of marionettes included a king, four ministers, prince and princesses, a tiger, an elephant, a horse, an old woman, a hermit, and so on. According to Fraser-Lu (1994, p. 98), an edict passed during the reign of King Ba-gyi-daw (1819-37) decreed that human, horse and nat puppets should be made of yamane wood (gmeline aborea) and that the other puppets should be carved from than-that wood (albizzia lucida).