Bengal Tiger Skin Van Ingen Mysore, Capt Bennett

Early 20th Century British Indian Taxidermy Bengal Tiger Skin, attributed to Van Ingen & Van Ingen of Mysore, circa 1938-1944.

The skin retains it full head mount, glass eyes and open mouth in snarling pose, on blue canvas backing. Some sections of loss to the blue backing, elderly repairs to the skin nothing you wouldn't expect for a skin this age. Lead tongue with original teeth, a few of the smaller examples are missing.

Partial typed label on the reverse 'S.No..../145, Capt. P....ett, Royal....rs, Ra...',

315cm in length, width across front paws is 220cm

Provenance

Shot by Capt. P M Bennett of the Royal Engineers, while on a hunt during an army posting in British India during the final years of the Raj. Hence by decent to his daughter. Footnote: Capt. P M Bennett was posted to the NW Frontier (In modern day Pakistan) in 1938, later he served in Bangalore and then onto Burma (Now known as The People's Republic of Myanmar) and Malaya. His obituary was published in the Royal Engineers Journal in August 1994, which gives a short history of his army service. He was mentioned in Despatches in December 1942 while Captain Bennett, progressing onto Major Bennett by the end of the war and finally retiring some years later as Lt Colonel Bennett. The family archive contains photographs of the tiger hunt showing Indian hunt servants and the shot tiger, they have been kind enough to send us copies of these photographs and they have been sympathetically framed in slim bullnose ebonised frames.

We also have the four tiger skinning tools which were given to Capt. Bennett after the hunt which are included with the skin and the photographes. The hunt must have taken place during the dates Capt. Bennett was stationed in India, from 1938-44. By family repute the hunt occurred around the time he was stationed in Bangalore, circa 1942-43.