English: Marionette from Tiller family marionette company, 1870s-1890s V&A Museum no. S.286-1999

Techniques: Carved wood

Place: Lincolnshire, England

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 is a trick figure dressed in its original costume. It has three heads which fit inside the neck and would have been raised for comic effect. It is based on the boastful character Scaramouche from the Italian knockabout comedy called 'Commedia dell'Arte', and may have appeared in the marionette music hall or pantomime.