I saw these two wooden carved figures on a shelf at the Rhinebeck Antique Emporium, and found them interesting. A look at the accompanying tag had them labeled as “19th Century carved Punch + Juds puppets,” and not knowing what that meant, did a search for “Punch and Juds.” It would seem either poor handwriting or my misinterpretation of the spelling, as it would seem it meant “Punch and Judy.”
But this is still an unknown thing for me, so a little more research shows that Punch and Judy are two characters from a traditional puppet show and the concept of these characters dates back to Italy in the 17th Century. It seems “Punch” is a derivative of “Pulcinella,” a stock character known for being a simple man who occupies the lower rungs of the social ladder, and a man who, although aware of his problems, always manages to come out of them with a smile. “Punch and Judy” appear to be an English twist on the original Italian characters, and took the form of marionette shows. You can see examples of other Punch and Judy characters here.