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| Marionette Tiller-Clowes Troupe 1870-1890 The Victoria & Albert Museum |
Made in Lincolnshire, England, between 1870 and 1890, here’s another marionette from the Tiller-Clowes Troupe. This one is lightly stuffed in the torso to allow her a flexible waist. Depicting a stock character young lady, she features a carved wooden head with a painted face and glass eyes. Her wig is made of real human hair.
The figure’s ivory silk dress is edged with turquoise blue wool with silk embroidery. This is her original dress and, sadly, it’s rotting and frayed in places. Similarly, while one of her original control bars, the one which would have operated her legs is long gone.
This is one of 35 original marionettes from the famous Victorian puppeteers, the Tiller-Clowes Troupe. The group was purchased in 1945 by puppeteer and puppetry historian George Speaight who oversaw the restoration of the majority of the figures. The puppets were lent to a German troupe in the 1980s, and, then Speaight sold them to John Philips, an expert puppeteer who bequeathed them to the V&A.
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