Fool's scepter, Germany or France, 1565-1600 in Germanisches National Museum - Nuremberg, Germany

A marotte is a prop stick or sceptre with a carved head on it. Jesters usually used a marotte. The word is borrowed from the French, where it signifies either a fool's (literal) "bauble" or a fad.

Typically carried by a jester or Arlecchino, the miniature head often reflects the costume of the jester who carries it. Modern marottes typically have music boxes or other machinery built into the head. Older marottes may utilize swivel heads with bells.

In popular culture

In Verdi's opera Rigoletto, the singer of the title role, a jester, carries a marotte, which often has on it the faces of comedy and tragedy.

In the children's TV series Rentaghost, the ghostly jester Timothy Claypole has a marotte referred to as "Tiny Timothy".

Gallery

• 
  Niederwindemer Schindlejokel
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  Marotte of Deutsch
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  Before 1848
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  Welschkorngeister - Denzlingen
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  Hölle-Leue - Freiburg-Rieselfeld
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  Burgnarren - Freiburg-Zähringen
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  Musée du jouet de Moirans-en-Montagne
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  Rocca di Angera - Museo della Bambola
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  détail du dessin Le pas du Danube bleu. Caricature de Valio. Le Journal amusant 10 mars 1877
• 
  Grandville - A chaque fou plaît sa marotte
• 
  Émile Moreau-Roi et Paysan
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  Carlègle - Les Linottes
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  Triboulet en prière
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  Chambers 1908 Bauble
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  Playing Cards
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  VSAN TT 2014
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  VSAN Wgt 2015 568 Schalknarr
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  A jester shown with a marotte in a 1540 woodcut by Heinrich Vogtherr the Younger
• 
  Pirata marioneta lou
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  Kind mit Maske und Narrenzepter 19Jh
• 
  Three Fools of Carnival
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  Zwei Szepter - Johli und Feuerteufel
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  Seeräuber Titisee
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  Philippe Mercier Jeune garçon en costume de folie
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  Narrenzunft Nordrach - Zunftmeister
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  Renaissance fair
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  The Jester Statue on Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, England.
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  Jester's bauble
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  Frederick Locker (Waddy, 1872)
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  When Depew goes to the Senate by Homer Davenport (cropped)
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  Quentin Massys
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  Brooklyn Museum - For What Was I Created? - William Holbrook Beard - overall
• 
  Jan Pietersz. Saenredam - The Fool
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  A Court Fool of the 15th Century
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  Jacquemart de Hesdin
• 
  Hieronymus Bosch
• 
  Bajazz mit der Laterne von der Mainzer Künstlerin Inge Blum, eine Symbolfigur des Mainzer Karnevals - panoramio

See also

• Cap and bells

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marottes.