I got an email from someone asking if I recognized or had any information on these two marionette heads. I can't quite place their origin. Anyone have any ideas?


You can see the full size version here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/babu__shepp/2819371305/sizes/l/

Ah, I know who sent the pic... I was on Yahoo answers and saw the question, thought someone might know here. All I could guess is they look Asian...?

Yes, more specifically they look Indonesian and a bit Thai with the side pieces on the headdresses and the prominent triangular noses are popular with Indonesian puppets.  I say a bit of Thai due to the conical shape of the hat on the head of the left puppet but then the brim throws me off as it then starts looking like a witches hat.  Here is a good example of a Thai hat that first came to mind when I saw the puppet on the right.

(look at the puppet hat on the left that is turned to the side)
You can definitely see the resemblance of the side piece that I pointed out on the headdress.

One thing that really puzzles me is the moveable jaw.   With Indonesian puppets, from what I witnessed, most are rod puppets with no moving mouths.  Well that's my guess anyways having just been to that area this past summer and also looking at my own collection of Indonesian puppets sitting on the shelf in front of me.

Could be from anywhere in asia, india, mongolia, the possibilities are endless. Its too bad we dont have more detail.

Puppet hug,
SHould

Upon closer inspection of two of my puppets that I picked up on my travels, I can see more Thai details.  Here are two pictures that I uploaded from my own collection.  The first is of a Thai marionette.  Again, more rods than marionettes are seen in Indonesia but there are definitely marionettes in Thailand.  The second picture is of my antique Indonesian puppet.  I guess pictures are worth a thousand words.

Thai Marionette
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t248/PuppetsAndPals/ThaiMarionettehead.jpg

Indonesian Rod Puppet
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t248/PuppetsAndPals/Indopuppethead.jpg

I thought that since doing photo comparisons, I should probably include two of my Chinese Rod puppets picked up in Shanghai.  They have porcelain heads and take note of the creation/application of facial hair that is typical with these puppets and also seen on the puppet in question on the right.

Chinese Rod Puppets
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t248/PuppetsAndPals/chineserodpuppets.jpg

Beautiful puppets Nikole - thanks for sharing!

The person who requested this info emailed and wanted me to thank everyone for their help in trying to identify these puppets.