Carved wooden marionette from the Tiller troupe. Stock character representing a young female lead character, or possibly Columbine Made by the Tiller family circa 1870 to 1890.

Carved wooden marionette; a young woman, possibly originally used as Columbine, with a pink painted face, red mouth, and eyes with painted blue pupils flecked with white. She wears a light brown crepe hair wig glued on over carved hair, decorated on the left side with a spray of artificial flowers. Her right hand is closed as if to hold props but she is also pointing with her index finger.

She was probably completely re-dressed in the 1950 and wears a green and pink floral patterned cotton dress, with a scoop neck and sleeves both edged with cotton lace. The dress is fastened down the back with a zip fastener. She wears a petticoat made from a cut-down 1950s petticoat; a pink cotton apron, and white stockings with black velvet slippers stitched on to the feet. She was probably used as a dancer during the 1950s since there are eyelets to the heels and to the back of the knee joints, although she is not strung for dancing now.

Old control bars, with later screw-eyes added.

Since the dress is low-cut it shows how the centre of the top body oval section is scooped out for the neck joint to be hidden, and to allow for maximum flexibility. The torso is tightly stuffed and the leather loop joints are exposed, as is the base of the torso with canvas nailed to it.

This marionette along with the rest of the troupe and three of their original backcloths had been stored in a blacksmith's shop in Lincolnshire for over thirty years, but after cleaning and re-stringing, most of the marionettes were restored by Gerald Morice and George Speaight who purchased them in 1945. They began working on recreating some of the puppets' original repertoire. Since the original cloths were too fragile for performance, new backdrops were painted, and in August 1951 as part of The Festival of Britain celebrations, the marionettes took to the stage again as The Old Time Marionettes, at the Riverside Theatre, Festival Gardens, Battersea Park. In the 1980s George Speaight lent the troupe to puppeteers in Germany but in the late 1990s he sold them to John Phillips, an expert puppet carver, manipulator and puppet historian, whose widow sold them to the Museum after his death in 1998.

This marionette was used as Christine in the production of The Floating Beacon which took place at the Theatre Museum in April 2004.

It is impossible to identify the precise maker of this marionette since the company made, altered and used figures throughout its career. It is possible, however, to distinguish distinct types, and therefore groups, made by different makers, due to the type of carving. The carver of this object has not been distinguished.

This is one of 35 marionettes from the Tiller-Clowes troupe, one of the last Victorian marionette troupes in England. Marionette shows were a popular form of entertainment for adults in the 19th century, many of them family concerns which travelled around the country long before the advent of film and television, presenting shortened versions of London's latest popular entertainment from melodramas and pantomimes to minstrel shows and music hall. In the 18th and early 19th centuries their theatres were relatively makeshift, but after about 1860 many became quite elaborate, with walls constructed from wooden shutters, seating made from tiered planks of wood, and canvas roofs.

The figures were carved, painted, dressed and performed by members of the company. This girl is dressed as a stock character, to appear in any plays needing a heroine, but she was also used by the Tiller-Clowes troupe as Columbine, the character who developed from the Italian knockabout comedy called 'Commedia dell'Arte'. Columbine was a familiar character in 19th century British pantomime, where she was Pantalone's daughter, in love with Harlequin. Columbine was an indispensable member of any marionette troupe, along with Pantalone, Clown and Harlequin.

S.310-1999