Antique Qing Dynasty Chinese shadow Puppet... For centuries, before there was electricity, throughout Asia, Puppetry Arts were a popular form of traveling entertainment... A platform with a cloth screen, lit from the back by candlelight, provided the stage... The shadow images were black against the white "background". Hence, the puppets had a minimum of color and only the necessary intricate cut outs for personality as they were sometimes presented to the audience with the "handlers" after a performance. The various body parts of the puppets were cut from donkey hide and quite literally tied together with string so the joints allowed for movement across the "stage". This Chinese horse is a "shadow puppet" from the late 1800's The very intricately cut and colorfully detailed figures seen and sold today are a folk art which was developed from those original "shadow puppets"