Antique Burmese Court Marionette (Yoke Thé) An exceptional and fully authentic Burmese court marionette from the royal Yoke Thé tradition, one of Myanmar’s most refined classical performing arts dating to the Konbaung Dynasty. This character represents a high-ranking Minister from the royal theatre repertoire. The Portland Puppet Museum (USA) identified the piece as a genuine northern Burmese court marionette, based on: • Characteristic H-type wooden control yoke • Single neck disk construction • Rare blinking round-eye mechanism • Functional movable jaw These features confirm this is an original theatre puppet — not a later decorative export piece. Remarkably Complete The marionette retains: • Original wooden control bar (yoke) • Original string rigging • Original multi-layered costume with metal trim • Carved wooden hands and feet with original polychromy • Fully operational eye and jaw mechanism The separately carved wooden eyeballs remain fully controllable — a sophisticated feature found only in high-quality court performance puppets. Complete examples with intact mechanisms, costume, and rigging are increasingly rare on today’s market.