Large Antique Burmese Theatrical Marionette. Likely depicts Zawgyi, a semi-immortal human alchemist who discovered the Philosopher's Stone in Burmese mythology and is usually depicted with a hat and moustache. 

Condition: Commensurate with age and use. 

Size: 12 x 42 x 5 1/2 in. 

#5951 . 

In most of Southeast Asia theater and puppetry have been intrinsically intertwined for hundreds if not thousands of years. The Chinese Tang Dynasty is sometimes known as “The Age of 1000 Entertainments,” and shadow puppetry first emerged as a recognized form of theater in China in the Song Dynasty, although there were earlier examples present in Khmer (now Cambodia) and Siam (now Thailand). The Yuan Dynasty developed a sophisticated form of theater called zaiju, with a four-or-five act structure that became so popular it spread to nearby countries, where it evolved further. Baltal is a Korean puppet theater unique in that they are manipulated with the feet rather than the hands, while in Japan Bunraku became the definitive form of puppet theater and is still part of Osakan traditions and celebrations today. In Indonesia theater had been a vital part of rituals and culture for thousands of years, with wooden rod-puppets of the Sudanese, Javanese, and Balinese presenting a repertoire derived from indigenized versions of the Hindu Ramayana and Mahabharata. Marionettes were the puppets of choice in Burma (now Myanmar), India, and Nepal, and the medieval Islamic world also had a profound impact on puppet theater throughout their conquests, as the figures, particularly in shadow plays, did not violate restrictions of icon worship and portrayal and became tools to teach stories from Muslim history. The puppets often share similar shapes and structures due to the cross-cultural spread of the entertainment, but every single country developed their own unique usage of them, reflecting the place that the arts and performance held in national pride for most Asiatic people.

Commensurate with age and use.