Earlier this summer, I chanced upon a garage sale only a block from home and found these two shadow puppets. After inquiring as to their price I was given an offer I could not refuse. They are part of the tradition of Wayang Kulit, the shadow puppet theatre of Indonesia. I had first seen puppets of this nature at the Smithsonian's Arthur G. Sackler Gallery of Asian Art in Washington, D.C., likely when I was on break from college. While the soon-to-be former owner was able to tell me that these puppets were of Javanese origin (as opposed to the Balinese puppets I had seen at the Sackler) he could only identify them as figures from the heroic epic, the Mahãbhãrata.
So, dear reader, can you help me identify them? It is clear that the red faced fellow is a prince or noble of some sort, and that the blue fellow is of lower status, but is he a lower-ranked prince? A servant? Perhaps one of the comical figures of Wayong known as punokawan who, from their description, seem analogous to the zanni characters I often play when I perform commedia dell'arte?
Click here for the full photo set. My apologies as they are not my best photographs.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Can You Identify These Puppets?
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7 comments:
I wonder if there is a site like The Antiques Road show where people can submit photos of their items to be identified.
I'm at loss as to how to help but what a great find.
I imagine there are lots of bloggers out there from Asia who would have a more specific idea as to the characters though.
That's the basic idea: If I post these photographs eventually somebody with knowledge of the theatre traditions of Indonesia will discover this page and provide an answer.
One friend who has seen a few performances of Javanese Wayang Kulit suggested that the figures might be from the adaptations of the Rāmāyaṇa and that the red-faced prince might be a demon-prince, perhaps Rãvana, and was inclined to agree with my intuition that the blue figure was likely a clown-servant of the heroes (an Indonesian innovation not present in the original Hindu scripture.)
However, I prefer not to rely just on my intuitions when interpreting the traditions of another culture-- so I wait for someone more knowledgible.
I think it's Javanese Wayang Kulit because of the style.
Punokawan is only in Javanese story, so it must be Javanese.
Thank you, Trey. Since first writing this entry, I have found clips of Balinese Wayang Kulit being performed on the internet. It appears that the Balinese style, is to cut the puppets with more realistic faces that are far less stylized than the manner in which Javanese Wayang Kulit faces are carved.
Are we certain that the blue figure is Punokawan?
the first charachter might be Baladewa.
The second (the blue guy) is definitely NOT a punakawan.
... oh ... but that first puppet is definitely not Ravana.
and both are Javanese, likely Central Java.
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