Additional titles
နတ်ကတော်ရုပ်

Dated
Date of origin: ca. 1950

Geographical reference
Place of origin: Myanmar / Mandalay Region

Material / technique
Wood, carved, polychromed
Textile, sewn
Hair, knotted
Sequins, sewn
Porcelain

Dimensions
Object dimension: 70 x 28 x 10 cm
Weight: 1,6 kg
Puppet volume: 70 x 50 x 20 cm

Creditline
KOLK 17 Figurentheater & Museum, Lübeck

Inventory no.
TF000002

Keywords
Asia

Object description
The expert Ni Ni Yin-Pleyer assigns this figure to ရုပ်သေး/Yoke thé, the traditional Burmese puppet theater. The way the figure is carved and painted indicates its origin in the Mandalay region. The design of the costume refers to the character နတ်ကတော်ရုပ်/nat kadaw. Nat kadaw plays an important role here. She represents a medium to the spirit world and implores its blessing for the theatrical performance. The marionette has special joints on its arms and additional strings that allow for differentiated movements. (22.11.2024 MP)

Object history
The KOLK 17 collection contains around 60 Burmese marionettes. The origin and provenance of the figures is not yet known to KOLK 17 and a research project is still pending. For the identification and animation of the nat kadaw marionette, the museum worked together with Ni Ni Yin-Pleyer. Yin-Pleyer is an interpreter and translator and has been working with Burmese marionettes for many years. As part of the digital collection recording of the KOLK 17 collection in 2011, she dealt with parts of the Burmese marionette collection. (22.11.2024 MP)