Harvard Art Museums > 2002.50.170: Ornament in the shape of Karagoz Shadow Puppet, "Bebe Ruhi" Character Recreational Artifacts Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Ornament in the shape of Karagoz Shadow Puppet, "Bebe Ruhi" Character , 2002.50.170,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 22, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/146573. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2002.50.170 Title Ornament in the shape of Karagoz Shadow Puppet, "Bebe Ruhi" Character Classification Recreational Artifacts Work Type puppet Date 20th century Places Creation Place: Middle East, Türkiye (Turkey), Istanbul Period Modern Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/146573 Physical Descriptions Medium Painted leather Dimensions 14.1 x 7.2 cm (5 9/16 x 2 13/16 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood, Belmont, MA (by 1998-2002), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2002. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art Accession Year 2002 Object Number 2002.50.170 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description Shadow plays were first performed in the Ottoman Empire during the sixteenth century, with the popular form known as Karagöz (Black Eye) developing in the 1600s. These plays were put on mainly in the evenings during Ramadan, the month of fasting, as popular entertainment. Although Karagöz theater was essentially comedic, political satire was an important component; the stories and characters represented a broad cross-section of Ottoman culture in Istanbul. The popularity of shadow plays declined in the twentieth century with the advent of cinema, radio, and television. A single puppeteer assisted by one or two apprentices performed the Karagöz shadow play, moving the puppets behind a screen of white cloth. When the puppeteer pressed the painted, translucent-leather figures to the screen, oil lamps or candles behind them would cast their colorful shadows. The puppets were usually made in three parts—head, body, and feet—and joined together with pieces of gut threaded through holes. The single or double horizontal rods by which they were moved were attached to reinforced socket-like holes in their necks or upper bodies. While performing, the puppeteer, behind the cloth screen, could hear but not see his audience. He would be the voice of each figure regardless of its age, gender, or regional accent and would sing, recite poetry, and improvise all the lines, since there was no written script. The figure represented here, Bebe Ruhi is an eccentric dwarf, usually depicted as a hunchback with a comically long nose. Fidgety, talkative, and boastful, he has a speech impediment that causes him to pronounce r and s as y. He wears a clown hat, a coat, and long boots. This and the four other figures in this group represent major characters in the Karagöz stories. They are considered ornamental replicas, because they lack the holes necessary for the attachment of the puppeteer’s rods, have no moving parts, and are appreciably smaller than authentic puppets, which range in height from twenty-five to thirty-five centimeters. Published Catalogue Text: In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art , written 2013149 Bebe Ruhi 14.1 × 7.2 cm (5 9/16 × 2 13/16 in.) 2002.50.170 Bebe Ruhi is an eccentric dwarf, usually depicted as a hunchback with a comically long nose. Fidgety, talkative, and boastful, he has a speech impediment that causes him to pronounce r and s as y. He wears a clown hat, a coat, and long boots. Ayşin Yoltar-Yıldırım Publication History Mary McWilliams, ed., In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2013), p. 272, cat. 149, ill. Exhibition History 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/31/2019 - 01/08/2020 Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
