Twenty-six years later, after the stormy days of the Revolution, marionettes were added to the attraction of Chinese shadowgraphy, which still lingers in the magic-lantern shows of to-day.
For the palmy days of the silhouette theatre we must look a long way down the centuries, and the recent astounding find of a large collection of ancient figures used in the shadow plays of old Egypt enables us to actually see how the Egyptian figures looked and how they worked. The history of their discovery by Dr. Paul Kahle in one of the villages of the Delta is a fascinating one, too long for these pages, but the signs and proofs of antiquity are complete. The coats of arms of the Mamelukes used in the thirteenth century are used as ornaments, and the leather, of which the human figures, ships, and birds are made, is cleverly cut, so that a mosaic of richer colouring is visible.
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries there are renowned actors in the shadow theatre, and even as early as the eleventh century performances are mentioned. The stage was formed by a thin sheet, behind which there was a strong light, and the figures were moved with two sticks fastened in the middle of the back.
In Java legendary history is taught by means of itinerant silhouette shows. These figures are also of leather, from eighteen inches to two feet in height. They are moved by means of horn sticks; they were in existence before Mahometanism came to the island. In China silhouette plays always represent a priest of Buddha as the central figure, and he is made to dance in imitation of the movements made in the performance of religious rites.
On the night of the festival of Diwali in India men exhibit a huge cylindrical paper lantern, over the sides of which shadow figures pass in succession, so that Gonard’s lamp in the Palais Royal, that was decorated with silhouettes to guide his clients to his salon, might have come straight from the East.
Special plays for performance on the stage of the shadow theatre were published as late as 1850, written some years before by Brentano for the amusement of his family, for shadowgraphy was often practised in the middle-class houses.
Pocci also wrote a play for the shadow theatre, and Henri Rivière produced the “Prodigal Child” and the “March to the Star,” both shadow tableaux rather than plays, arranged in seven elaborate scenes.
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF SILHOUETTISTS, MAKERS OF SILHOUETTE MOUNTS, AND OTHERS CONNECTED WITH THE CRAFT.
