. . "This is one of thirty-five marionettes known as of the Tiller-Clowes troupe, one of the last remaining Victorian marionette troupes in England. Marionette shows were a popular form of entertainment for adults in the 19th century. Many troupes were family concerns which travelled round the country long before the advent of film or television, presenting shortened versions of London's latest popular entertainment including melodramas, dramas, pantomimes, minstrel shows and music hall. In the 18th and early 19th centuries their theatres were relatively makeshift, but after about 1860 many became considerably elaborate, with walls constructed from wooden shutters, seating made from tiered planks of wood, and canvas roofs.\n\nThe figures were carved, painted, dressed and performed by members of the company. Dressed in its original costume, with bells that ring as they move, this is one of three Chinese bell-ringer figures which would have featured in the marionette music hall. They were probably based on an act which appeared on the London stage at around the time of the Chinese exhibition which first opened in a pagoda in Hyde Park in 1841."@en . .