This is the most unusual and perhaps the most beautiful object I've ever owned. It's a rawhide or leather puppet used in traditional Siamese theatrical performances. On the reverse, it's dated 4 IX 85, or September 4, 1885, which I presume is the day the puppet was acquired (or "collected"). I purchased it from an antique store in Denver in the early 1970s. The dealer explained that he bought from the estate of a local man who had been a foreign service officer in Thailand in the last part of the nineteenth century. I had never seen anything like it, didn't know anything about it, but fell for it in a big way, and have enjoyed it ever since.
It's called a Nang Yai puppet, and I've written a bit about it here.
She's a musician who plays a mandolin-like instrument. She wears an elaborately decorated outfit with long sleeves and pants. For many years, she hung in a north-facing window (our fierce Colorado sun would destroy her in a summer if she faced south). Now she has a light box all her own, and when she's lit, she dominates the room, but only in a benign way. She's harmoniously proportioned, graceful and not without a touch of majesty. To my eyes, she's radiant. She ennobles her surroundings.
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