Summary

Hand made marionette depicting an Arabian man. 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 an Arabian man, who is wearing a light green jacket with gold sequin decoration over a tight fitting pink top which has a line of gold sequins down the middle. The jacket is quite worn and has holes in the right hand sleeve. Over the jacket he wears a red cloak which is heavily sequined, on the back in green and on the inside in bronze. The cloak has a gold tassel hanging from each shoulder and one hanging on his back. He also wears a think cummerbund which is striped, gold, pink, cream and turquoise. His pants are peach coloured and gathered at the ankle; they are marked and have several small holes. The painted-on red shoes are lower cut than most other marionettes and have a black stripe. His felt soles are intact. His yellow, fabric hat has some holes in it. There has been some loss of black hair at the sides of his face and his beard. The facial paintwork is quite chipped. He has plastic olive eyes with black pupils. He has a 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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