Additional titles
狄仁傑 | 狄仁杰
Di Renjie

Dated
Date of origin: first half of the 20th century

Geographical reference
Place of origin: China / Guangdong

Material / technique
Ceramic, colored
Textile, embroidered
Wood, carved
Trimming, sewn
Paper, glued

Dimensions
Object dimension: 32 x 18 x 5 cm

Acquisition note
Purchase Heubel 1984

Creditline
KOLK 17 Figurentheater & Museum, Lübeck

Research object no.
FD000003

Keywords
Yíngshén xì | Theater to welcome the gods Performances, presented outdoors Asia Eastern Asia Dio Suan | Teoswa

Object description
The figure, which is around 35 cm tall, shows a bearded man with a white mask in an elaborately embroidered, dark robe with a dragon's head. He is wearing a hat with protruding wings on his head. The hands are made of wire wrapped in fabric so that they can also hold props. Chinese iron rod figures are performed with two fixed rods attached to the arms and a rod to be hooked into the back. This form of puppet theatre is mainly performed in southern China, in the Chaoshan region. The pieces are closely based on the local musical theatre, in particular the so-called Chao Opera. By exchanging heads and hats, the puppeteers can create new types of roles. The present figure is composed for the role of Di Renjie: Based on the historical personality of an official of the Tang period under Empress Wu Zetian (7th century), this character plays a role in numerous stories and is still known in popular culture today as Judge Dee. (24.04.2024, AN)

Object history
The puppet is one of 75 that were purchased together with a wooden stage, props, fabrics and musical instruments by Fritz Fey Jr. for the Theatre Puppet Museum in 1985. The head, body and hat were put together differently at the time and inventoried separately. The name of the theatre troupe on the curtain fabrics reads "Lao Mei Chun Xiang" ("Old Plum Blossom, Spring Fragrance"). The collection was purchased from the antiquarian bookshop Lothar Heubel in Cologne and is said to have travelled from Chaozhou to Germany via Bangkok. The dates in the documents of KOLK 17 are ambiguous, but point to the 1830s. However, research by Shasha Li in 2021 on site in Chaozhou and an in-depth inspection in the KOLK 17 depot in November 2023 revealed dates in the first half of the 20th century. (24.04.2024, AN)