Marionette in the form of a caricatured man: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A wooden, jointed marionette on a black metal stand in the form of a caricatured man. The marionette is wearing a red velvet jacket with long coattails and six (6) red velvet buttons, a white silk shirt underneath the jacket, and a velvet mustard-colored bowtie. The marionette's pants are mustard-colored and made of velvet. His eyes and mouth of marionette are moveable. The marionette's head, hands and shoes are painted black. The marionette's head is covered in black, tufted fabric. The marionette's mouth is painted bright red. Seven (7) fingernails are also painted red. The marionette is connected at the neck via a hook to a black metal stand. Black strings are attached to the head and limbs of the puppet and three metal hooks protrude from the top of the puppet's head. The bottom of the stand is covered in green felt. A piece of masking tape on bottom of black stand has blue handwritten text that reads, [Red Jacket / Brown Pants].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 19th-20th century
• Created by: Unidentified
• Type: puppets
• Medium: wood, metal, velvet, thread and felt
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 30 x 10 1/2 x 6 1/8 in. (76.2 x 26.7 x 15.6 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Caricature and cartoons
• Topic: Stereotypes
• Object number: 2007.7.473
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Collection of James M. Caselli and Jonathan Mark Scharer
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.