Stuffed with quirks
Ace in the hole... John Vincent reports on how a Victorian diorama of card-playing red squirrels cleaned up at a Yorkshire auction of taxidermy.
You must have seen it at some time... that famous picture of dogs playing pool, a bulldog hunched over the green baize to take his shot, watched by other beer-drinking, pipesmoking canines. The idea was nothing new, of course (few ever are) and anthropomorphising – attributing human characteristics or behaviour to animals – came into its own in Victorian times with some truly bizarre museum exhibits, along with children’s books such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) by Lewis Carroll, The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883) by Carlo Collodi and The Jungle Book (1894) by Rudyard Kipling.
Taxidermists, too, were caught up in the craze and now their quirky portrayals have become increasingly sought after at auction.
A prime example popped up at Tennants, where a large, cased anthropomorphic diorama of card-playing red squirrels, probably Austro-German from between 1870-1900, made a surprise £13,200 against an estimate of £3,500-£5,500.
The impressive but niche lot featured a wooden case, with two carved lions heads and a stag, containing six squirrels – four playing cards at a dining table and two others watching, one on a chaise longue, the other standing with cigar in hand. The table is set with decanter, glasses, cigars and cribbage board and the interior is lavishly furnished. It reputedly came into the selling family’s possession early last century in lieu of a debt previously owed to their grandfather.
Tennants’ specialist Robbie Bright described the piece as “an exceptional example of anthropomorphic taxidermy. The workmanship is impressive and the interesting provenance adds something extra special.”
Card-playing squirrels were not the only anthropomorphic lot: a mouse in full shooting attire with miniature shotgun taking aim at a large wasp – created earlier this year by taxidermist and naturalist AJ Armistead, of Darlington – fetched a more modest £300.
At the same 252-lot sale, a stuffed
South African springbok went for
£960, African hawk eagle £840, bird-ofparadise £1,680, yellow-headed Amazon parrot £600, South African giraffe (from the shoulder upwards) £1,680, common ostrich £1,200, Nile crocodile £505, common warthog £420 and a diorama of parrots, late 20th century, £505.
In case you were wondering, that picture of dogs surrounding a pool table is called The Hustler and was the work of American artist Arthur Sarnoff (19122000). Alongside Chinese Girl by Russian Vladimir Tretchikoff (the original of which fetched £982,000 at Bonhams in 2013), it was one of the most popular prints of the 1950s.