Small travelling puppeteer's theatre with 8 rod puppets Wooden boards and polychrome carved wood. The theatre takes the form of the architectural facade of a building (a church?), with a pediment in the centre highlighted by a carved border, completed by a window opening in two sashes. The ensemble is surmounted by two winged cherubs bearing the phylactery "GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO" and framed by two towers. Each tower has a niche-shaped opening in the centre and simulated painted windows above and below. Each tower is topped by a bulbous bell tower. The lower part of the interior, in the background, features a double fence (in the style of liturgical fences or a cot). The arch above it is topped by a star and a frieze of coloured pendants. A mobile light arm is attached to the front. The puppets, made of carved wood and dressed (painted clothes and two with textile clothes) represent Death (a skeleton) armed with his scythe, the Devil armed with his pitchfork, a policeman and five other characters, all men. The clothed figures have movable arms. A rod in the extension of the body is used to animate the theatre (each puppet is monoxyle, body and grip rod, for the characters with painted clothes). Textile straps are cobbled together and nailed to the back. Possibly Italy, late 19th and early 20th century Dimensions: H: 96 cm - W: 102 cm - D: 28.5 cm - Average height of a figure: 35 cm Condition: accidents, missing parts (including worm holes) and restorations.