3 > MEXICAN CARTONERÍA DOLLS & MARIONETTE PUPPET

Updated August 8, 2026

Group of three vintage Mexican folk-art figures standing approximately 12" to 15" H, comprising two upright papier-mâché dolls flanking a string-operated marionette. The figures are modeled as traditional rural or regional characters, each wearing a broad woven sombrero, fabric clothing and handmade footwear, with individually painted facial features, applied hair and articulated or separately formed limbs. The two stationary dolls are fashioned in the Mexican cartonería tradition, a longstanding method of constructing lightweight figures from molded papier-mâché and related paper materials. Such handmade figures were produced both as traditional toys and as colorful representations of regional dress and everyday Mexican life. The central figure is a mustached male marionette wearing a fabric suit, necktie and brightly decorated sombrero, with molded head, hands and oversized feet. Similar Mexican folk marionettes were assembled from papier-mâché, wood, fabric and straw, then suspended from strings attached to a handheld wooden cross controller. CONDITION REPORT > As for the puppet, the wooden manipulation cross is present; however, the strings are presently tangled, knotted and partly detached. Considerable time and patience would be required to separate, arrange and correctly reattach the strings before the marionette could again be operated as intended. Offered as a decorative folk-art grouping and restoration project, specific to the puppet. The dolls are rather well preserved, perhaps typical elements relative to age and materials.

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