Specimen stripping is a technique that uses real specimens to create lifelike animals, mainly in the Victorian era of Britain. Today, with the global popularity and collectible value of hunting booty, this ancient craft is beginning to breathe life again.
Humans have been making taxidermy animals for thousands of years: in ancient Egypt, specimen making was already in vogue, when people liked to mummify creatures of all sizes, including baboons, pelicans, crocodiles and cats...
The true origin of specimen stripping is closely related to the leather-making industry in England in the 19th century. The animals are removed and tannicated and filled with straw and wood chips, followed by re-stitching. At that time, specimen making was extremely common, and they were usually made by amateurs.
The Victorian period was the golden age of specimen making technology. At that time, the production of animal specimens was very popular, and people were very interested in Darwin's theory of evolution and natural history, they liked to explore nature, liked to paint on the theme of animals and plants, and liked to move them into their homes to create their own natural kingdom. Bird specimens under glass domes, for example, became commonplace in rooms across England at the time.
At the same time, people regard hunting as a gentleman's sport, and the harvested prey is sent directly to the specimen maker, and the specimen is collected at home. The homes of the wealthy Victorian elite were filled with collections of taxidermy specimens, and this was one of the favorite places for Victorian gentlemen to show off. Today, this method is still prevalent and has become increasingly popular with hunting activities.
Unlike the current realistic specimen style, Victorian specimen stripping is more like a bold artistic creation, especially the work of British herbarder Walter Potter, which is full of fairy tale romance elements.
Potter's fascination with specimen making extends from frogs, squirrels to rabbits and kittens... He produced many rare specimens during his lifetime, such as the Australian lira bird and a big-eyed pheasant, as well as some "freaks in nature": including a bull with two heads and a walrus with four teeth. There is also the famous "shooter", a chicken with three legs, which in the early 20th century became famous as a circus performance pillar because of its special ability to "shoot" marbles with a third leg.
Of course, there is also the work of "Cat's Wedding". The anthropomorphic production of specimens has made it the most famous specimen of the Victorian era. In addition, Potter's specimen-making earned him a resounding reputation in his hometown, and the museum he founded became a traveling destination.
At the age of 19, Potter created The Death and Burial of Robin the Rooster, which is said to feature as many as 98 species of British birds, including a weeping widow played by a robin and a gravedigger played by an owl. The work was the highest-priced of Potter's works at auction and was eventually bought at an auction in 2003 for a whopping £23,500.
Porter's style is unique, but that doesn't mean the entire Victorian specimen style is the same.
London has previously hosted exhibitions on Victorian taxidermy, which stems from the Robert family's heritage at the Clay Museum of Experience in Braden, Old Isle of Wight – an eight-foot-tall Bengal tiger, an open-screen peacock, a zebra, a camel, a rhinoceros and a lion with a bloody mouth and sharp teeth.
In the specimens on display, in addition to some of the more common animals, there are also some strange things, such as a shrunken monkey head nailed to a long nail, a lamb whose head is linked together, dozens of wax animals with melasma on their skin, or wax animals with daggers inserted in their chests...
At that time, it was very popular in the art world to pose animals made into specimens as human activities, and this became an art form. In other words, Victorian taxidermy, while seemingly crazy, gave the herbarists more creative space.
All in all, whether it is the ancient specimen stripping technique of the Victorian era or the modern method of specimen making today– preserving the lost life and letting the dead animals "come alive" - it will always be the purpose and meaning of specimen making.