The afterlives of fish far from home: (mis)representations in the iconography of preserved and printed pufferfish in 18th-century Germany
Fischer, D. (2023). The afterlives of fish far from home: (mis)representations in the iconography of preserved and printed pufferfish in 18th-century Germany, in: Smith, P.J. et al. Ichthyology in Context (1500–1880). Intersections: Interdisciplinary Studies in Early Modern Culture, 87: pp. 554-583. https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004681187_020
In: Smith, P.J.; Egmond, F. (2023). Ichthyology in Context (1500–1880). Intersections: Interdisciplinary Studies in Early Modern Culture, 87. Brill: Leiden. ISBN 978-90-04-68117-0; e-ISBN 978-90-04-68118-7. xxxiv, 776 pp. https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004681187, more
In: Intersections: Interdisciplinary Studies in Early Modern Culture. Brill: Leiden. ISSN 1568-1181, more
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| Abstract |
This chapter investigates fish out of water; more specifically, pufferfish specimens found in museum collections and represented in different media. It illuminates the complex processes behind preserving and depicting pufferfish as well as how and which knowledge about this species circulated in the context of 18th-century German collections. To gain scientific knowledge, fish bodies were preserved as wet and dry specimens, and/or translated into prints and written descriptions. These various strategies of representation are especially interesting to investigate when they appear within collections without direct access to the ocean. Tracing one specific pufferfish species, then called Tetrodon hispidus, two exemplary Central European natural collections are examined under an art historical lens. By comparing wet and dry specimens from the ichthyological collections of the Leipzig based Linck family as well as Marcus Elieser Bloch (Berlin), I show that what characterized “the” Tetrodon hispidus differed significantly. Through the additional examination of written and pictorial sources, mainly Bloch’s Naturgeschichte der ausländischen Fische, it becomes apparent how the various ways of representation interdepend. Yet, despite the challenges of conserving the animals’ bodies, the specimens’ differences, and the living species’ characteristics unknown to the collectors, one can, surprisingly, trace a coherent iconography of the fish. Thus, shedding light on the production of ichthyological knowledge, this chapterpaper demonstrates the Enlightenment period’s focus on completeness, classification and generalisability as well as the unique role of fish specimens within it. |
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