Walter Potter's Museum of Curiosities

Dec 7, 2011 10 comments

Walter Potter was a nineteenth century English taxidermist noted for his anthropomorphic dioramas featuring stuffed animals mimicking human life, which he displayed at his museum in Bramber, Sussex, England. Amongst his scenes were a rats' den being raided by the local police rats, a village school featuring 48 little rabbits busy writing on tiny slates, while the Kittens' Tea Party displayed feline etiquette and a game of croquet. A guinea pigs' cricket match was in progress, and 20 kittens attended a wedding, wearing little morning suits or brocade dresses, with a feline vicar in white surplice. Potter's attention to detail in these scenes was astounding. For instance, the kittens even wore frilly knickers under their formal attire.

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The Kittens' Tea Party

Apart from the simulations of human situations, he had also added examples of bizarrely deformed animals such as two-headed lambs and four-legged chickens. Potter's collection, billed as "Mr Potter's Museum of Curiosities” was a well-known and popular example of "Victorian whimsy" for many years, even after Potter's death. Special coach trips from Brighton were arranged and the village and Potter's museum were so popular that an extension was built to the platform at Bramber railway station.

As a boy, Potter taught himself the art of preserving animals and when his sister, Jane, showed him an illustrated book of nursery rhymes, Potter was inspired to produced what was to become the centerpiece of his museum, a diorama of "The Death and Burial of Cock Robin", which included 98 species of British birds. This was so well-received that in 1861, he opened a separate display in the summer house of the pub. While satisfying the Victorian demand for traditional stuffed animals to earn a living, Potter continued creating his dioramas and expanded into new premises in 1866, and again in 1880.

When Potter died in 1918, his museum contained about 10,000 specimens. But the Victorian enthusiasm for stuffed animals had waned by the museum's later days and it had to be shut in 1970s, and, later revived in 1984 by its new owner in Cornwall. Finally, in 2003 the collection was auctioned off for over £500,000. "The Kittens' Wedding" was sold for £21,150, and "The Death and Burial of Cock Robin" was the highest-selling item of the sale, raising £23,500.

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The Rabbits' Village School

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The Kittens' Wedding

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The Death and Burial of Cock Robin

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The Guinea Pigs' Cricket Match

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The Rabbits' Village School

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The Lower Five's drinking den being raided by the police

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Gambling squirrels

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Upper Ten or Squirrels' Club

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

Comments

  1. let them rest in peace

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  2. You have to wonder (or perhaps not want to wonder) WHERE in the heck did he GET all of these unlucky little "models". That is the disturbing part. It is obvious how times have changed and animals are seen in a very different light in modern times. Can't you imagine these days someone doing this would certainly land themselves in jail.
    This could be cute but I can't get past the creepiness factor of it all. Ugh.

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    Replies
    1. Locals would give them specimens. Plus, farmers would donate their excess kittens

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  3. Actually, Walter Potter did not kill animals for taxidermy. They were dog/cat kills, people's pets, or animals given to him by others (who may have killed them as pests/sport). Nothing illegal occured in the making of these tableaux, certainly nothing that would land you in jail. Red squirrels were a pest species then and they were regularly killed as pests, farmers reguarly culled litters of kittens by their farm cats. They were all surplus animals, and Potter made use of them.

    The specimens may be considered slightly creepy today because of the anthropomorphic poses, but this style of taxidermy was very popular in Potter's time.

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  4. I actually think it's kind of cute....I would love to get into the taxidermy field and try something unique like this. You have to take into consideration how long and meticulous this process is, and despite the fact that the animals don't exactly look right, it's pretty amazing that he was able to this.

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  5. We used to love going here as children, when the museum was in Arundel.

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  6. I just put the book on my Amazon wish list, hoping that one of my offspring will deem it a good Mother's Day gift!

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  7. remember going to this as a child remember there was the smallest dog born

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  8. I too went as a child,the kittens wedding freaked me out

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  9. @ April 26th.. "They were all surplus animals" That is one of the more horrid statements a human could make. "Surplus animals" a phrase that could apply to many humans walking the planet.

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