A tiger mid-stride and a leopard on the prowl. A Hamsa settled on a leafy branch, and a checkered bird with its wings flung open. Cut from leather and painted by hand in Andhra Pradesh, these are puppets in the oldest sense - made for light to pass through.
Tholu Bommalata - 'the dance of leather puppets' in Telugu - is Andhra Pradesh's shadow theatre tradition. Alongside its gods and heroes, the tradition has always made animals, birds and trees to fill the world of the story. Each figure here is hand-cut from treated hide by Tholu Bommalata artisans, pricked with fine perforations so light can pass through it, painted by hand, and assembled in jointed sections so it could be moved by a puppeteer.
Choose your pair
Tiger & Leopard
The Tiger leaps with its head thrown back and jaws open, every tooth drawn in. Its stripes are not painted as bands but as flames - black edged in saffron and white, licking along the body from shoulder to haunch. A red girth runs beneath its belly, the tail curls up into a tight spiral, and the paws are drawn with long, pale claws. Look along the legs and you will see the joints where each limb was cut separately and fixed to the body.
The Leopard is its quieter counterpart: lower, longer, mid-prowl. Its deep orange coat is covered in rows of dark rosettes, each one ringed and filled by hand, with fine pin-pricked perforations running between them. A red collar sits at the neck, the snarl is sharp and toothy, and its tail coils behind it in the same tight spiral as the tiger's - the two were clearly made to be seen together.
Hamsa & Checkered Bird
The Hamsa sits at rest on a leafy branch, its long neck curved back, crest raised and beak turned to one side. Its body is built from curling, layered plumage in vermilion and white - scalloped feathers across the breast, broad sweeping bands across the wings and tail - so that it reads almost as a single, folded flower. A green leaf completes the branch beneath its feet. In Indian art the Hamsa is the swan of myth and poetry, long associated with Saraswati and with the idea of discernment.
The Checkered Bird is a bird of the artisan's own imagining, and the liveliest of the four. Its wings are thrown open in flight, banded in red, white and saffron; its body is worked in a bold black-and-white check; and behind it a long tail fans out in black, white and vermilion chevrons. A beaded collar circles its neck and a jewelled band sits at the base of the tail, as if dressed for a performance.
Sold as puppets only. Shown here mounted for display - frame not included. Because every figure is jointed, how it is posed and displayed is yours to decide.
