Old castelet or guignol theater - time: early twentieth century

Former castelet or guignol theater of parquet or salon lyonnais. Its structure is painted wood, the bottom represents a clown, the augustus feeding his playmate, an elephant representing the white clown. The stage curtains are made of original fabric. Period: early twentieth century. Dimensions: height: 124cm X width: 60cm X closed depth: 2cm. The history of guignol is intimately linked to that of lyon and one man, laurent mourguet. The first trace of the puppet dates back to around 1810.  Some say that its creator, laurent mourguet, was inspired by his own image.  Others claim that he borrowed the expression of a canut neighbor "c'est guignolant" for his shows and that the public would then have named the puppet guignol.  Finally, another hypothesis attests that its name comes from the name of a lombard village, chignolo.  Although his origin is debated, guignol is a true lyonnais embodying humour, independence and joie de vivre.

Ref. : 43PGPP8T