Unknown Artist
Puppet, 1974
Mixed media
Gift of Catherine Fruhan
2015.21.12
The art of puppetry dates back to over 4,000 years ago and was used as a story-telling medium to teach religious or cultural lessons. Puppetry exists in many forms, some specific to the type of story being told. This puppet is a rod puppet, so-called for the long rod propping it’s body up underneath a long skirt. The head of the puppet is stuck onto the rod holding up its body so that its head may rotate from side to side. The puppeteer is positioned either above or below the puppet, where they can hold up its main rod and operate the hand rods.
Check out this video for more on Indonesian wayang golek puppetry.