Hand Puppet Item Number: 3453/1 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Hand puppet of a mouse bride. Hands and feet are made of cast resin, head has an internal wooden cone, covered in cast resin. All components are painted. Head and hands are light brown. Dark brown lines painted across face and neck, imitating fur. She has black eyes, red nostrils, a red smiling mouth, and two large front teeth. Her short ears are triangular. She has black hair, carved in relief across her head, that extends into long strands of string hair at the base of her neck. Puppet is wearing a layered, lace-like veil with floral embroidery along the bottom edge. Veil is secured around her ears and forehead with a beaded headpiece. Red and pink flowers across top of headpiece. She is wearing a white dress, with two long slits up the sides. Top of dress is covered in floral embroidery, with silver-coloured highlights, and skirt is plain. Cuffs and bottom edge of dress are trimmed with bands of scalloped, lace-like material. She has a wide, pink belt around her waist, tied at the back. Underneath her wedding dress, she is wearing silk-like pants and dark purple shoes, that curve upward at the toe. Bouquet of red, pink and purple flowers in her right hand. Puppet is operated by inserting a hand inside the body to control its head and movements.
Hand puppets depicting Ah Lang and Zhen Zhu, the mouse bride and groom. The pair (3453/1-2) are contemporary copies of puppets that feature in a play titled "The Wedding (or Marriage) of the Mice". They were performed by Robin Ruizendaal at the Museum of Marionettes, in 2010 in Lisbon.