{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1621853"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1621853/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1621853","accessionNumber":"S.430-2021","objectType":"Puppet costume","titles":[{"title":"Jacket for a marionette in the Tiller-Clowes troupe, late 19th century","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This jacket is part of the marionette wardrobe used by the Tiller-Clowes marionette troupe from about 1870 until around 1914, when the company stopped presenting their touring shows, due to the increasing popularity of cinema, and to male members of the troupe enlisting in the armed forces. The marionettes, costumes, backcloths and accessories had been stored by the family in a blacksmith's shop in Lincolnshire for over thirty years, and were purchased by the marionette enthusiasts Gerald Morice and George Speaight in 1945 from Harriet Clowes, a member of the Tiller-Clowes family, when they started work on recreating some of the puppets' original repertoire. \n\nSome of the costumes were used when the marionettes took to the stage again as The Old Time Marionettes in August 1951 as part of The Festival of Britain celebrations, at the Riverside Theatre, Festival  Gardens, Battersea Park. This was one of twenty three items of costume, parts of costume and accessories that remained in George Speaight's attic, and were presented to the museum by his son, who inherited them after his father's death in 2005.\n\nMarionette troupes presented condensed versions of popular plays, pantomimes and melodramas with live musical accompaniment in fit-up canvas booths at fairgrounds and marketplaces, along with 'curtain-raising' Variety turns including singing and feats of acrobatics and tightrope-walking. Their costumes were modelled on those worn by contemporary performers on the human stage, and would have been made by members of the family. The V&A owns 35 of the figures, a fraction of their full working troupe but probably the largest surviving group from a 19th-century touring marionette theatre in Great Britain.","physicalDescription":"Male marionette's dark purple ribbed velvet cutaway formal jacket with coffee coloured lace at the cuffs, glass beaded trim and gold fringed metallic epaulettes.\n\r\n","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Tiller family marionette company","id":"A2934"},"association":{"text":"makers","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"cotton (textile)","id":"AAT14067"},{"text":"velvet","id":"AAT133711"},{"text":"lace","id":"AAT132861"},{"text":"beads","id":"x35177"}],"techniques":[{"text":"sewing","id":"AAT53658"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Cotton, ribbed velvet, cotton lace and gold metallic epaulettes decorated with glass bead trim, sewn by hand","categories":[{"text":"Costumes","id":"THES269529"},{"text":"Puppetry","id":"THES266219"},{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Theatre costume","id":"THES268477"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"007","id":"THES355602"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"marionette costume","id":"THES293651"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Lincolnshire","id":"x29449"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"The Tiller-Clowes troupe was based in Lincolnshire, which is possibly where this was made."}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca.1870","earliest":"1865-01-01","latest":"1874-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Accepted by HM Government in Lieu of Inheritance Tax and allocated to the V&A in 2010","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"34.0","unit":"cm","qualifier":"jacket length","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"centre back, hem of collar to bottom hem","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"26.0","unit":"cm","qualifier":"outside leg length","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"breeches, waist to hem","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"34.0","unit":"cm","qualifier":"waist opened out","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"open waist width, before being gathered by drawstring"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This costume, along with marionettes from the Tiller troupe and three of their original backcloths, had been stored in a blacksmith's shop in Lincolnshire for over thirty years, but in 1945 were purchased by Gerald Morice and George Speaight who began working on recreating some of the puppets' original repertoire. Some of them were used when the marionettes took to the stage again as The Old Time Marionettes in August 1951 as part of The Festival of Britain celebrations, at the Riverside Theatre, Festival Gardens, Battersea Park. In the 1980s George Speaight lent the troupe to puppeteers in Germany. In the late 1990s he sold them to John Phillips, whose widow sold them in turn to the Theatre Museum after her husband's death in 1998. This was one of twenty three items of costume, parts of costume and accessories that remained in George Speaight's attic, and were presented to the museum by his son, who inherited them after his father's death in 2005.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Formal jacket for a marionette in the Tiller-Clowes troupe. Made by a member of the family, Lincolnshire, 1870s-1890s","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.430-2021"],"accessionNumberNum":"430","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2021,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-01-26","recordCreationDate":"2021-05-14","availableToBook":true}}