Summary

Hand made marionette depicting the fictional character King Neptune. It was manufactured and operated in Melbourne by Alex and Murray Smith, who performed as part of Le Forgeron Marionettes from 1930 until 1956.

Physical Description

Marionette depicting King Neptune. His outfit is made of two types of green fabric, one that is not shot with silver, and one that is. The plain green fabric forms the base garment, which is elbow and just-past-knee length. Over this, the fabric shot with silver is draped and attached in parts and forms a cape/robe at the back. The outfit is intentionally scraggly looking. He also wears a sparkling gold sash around his waist. King Neptune's legs are considerably darker than his arms and face, which are a pale green colour. His legs have splashes of black paint on them. He has no shoes. In his right hand he carries a silver staff with tree spikes on top. His facial paint work is chipped, particularly around his beard, which is starting to become detached. There is quite a lot of cracking also. The facial detailing has been done in black, red, white and blue paint. King Neptune has a long, grey, beard and hair - on top of which he wears his gold, cardboard crown. This marionette has a three piece mechanism. There are operating strings attached to numerous parts of him, including his head, limbs and shoulders. The feet have been weighted

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