A "clown," belonging to the servant 



class of characters in the drama. 



The servants provide support, cheer 



and good advice to the heroes. 



^ 



i 





i speciaL zmm 



Gods, demi-gods, heroes, giants and demons, characters 

 drawn from the long and complicated Hindu epics, the 

 Kamayana and the Mahabharata, were the earliest representations 

 in the Javanese puppet theatre. Contents of these early 

 dramas were drawn entirely from these epics and remain popular 

 today. The puppet theatre in Java dates back to the eighth 

 century at least and the art form itself is a very ancient tradition 

 in the Far East. 



Two types of Javanese puppets are represented in the special 

 temporary exhibit on display in Hall 9 Gallery through 

 January 27. The Wayang purwa, the earliest type, are flat 

 shadow puppets carved from leather, with varying degrees of 

 openwork which permits the passage of light. They are 

 controlled by means of wooden sticks attached to the arms and 

 held above the head of the operator, called Dalang, who sat 

 between a lamp and a screen. The audience itself was 

 divided by the screen. The men, sitting on the side with the 

 Dalang could enjoy the full beauty of the puppets along with the 

 delicate and elaborate openwork emphasized by the shadows 

 while the women, on the other side of the screen, had to 

 be content with the shadow alone. 



The shadow puppets evolved into the three-dimensional 

 wooden puppets called Wayang golek. These were manipulated 

 by means of a rod passed through the center of the body 

 and into the head, and by sticks fastened to the hands. 

 In contrast to the sharp exaggerated profiles of the Wayang 

 purwa, these puppets demonstrated a tendency toward normal 

 human appearance, a development which coincided 

 chronologically with the departure from the representation of 

 ancestor worship to the performance of more secularized plays. 



The puppet faces in both the shadow and three-dimensional 

 types were traditionally painted with masks to represent 

 specific characters and were dressed in traditional headgear 

 and costumes, clothing styles which were later copied by 

 live actors in the Javanese theatre. 



The Javanese puppets shown here were among the first 

 artifacts acquired by the Museum, in the fall of 1893. 



Japanese 



