Von bunten und unbunten Fischen

Herstellungstechnische Betrachtung eines kolorierten Nasspräparats aus der Fischsammlung des Museums für Naturkunde Berlin

Abstract

Of coloured and uncoloured fish. A look at the production of a coloured wet preparation from the fish collection of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
The discovery of a small number of colored wet specimens in the fish collection of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin provided the impetus to take a closer look at the origin of colour in fish and its preservation during preparation and conservation. Using a painted cichlid wet specimen as an example, this unusual technique and the production process used for it are examined. The painted cichlid specimen is one of the numerous and often unsuccessful earlier attempts to produce didactic, life-like fish specimens for exhibition purposes. In order to further investigate this historical preparation method, which as is often undocumented or barely documented in museum collections, the pigments used were analysed using X-ray fluorescence analysis in addition to literature research.