Taxidermy: A Late Victorian Cased Pair of European Merlin (Falco columbarius), by Joseph Cullingford, Durham, a fine pair of European Merlins, male and female, each mounted upon a white-painted perch in typical Cullingford style, set against a plain wash painted interior, enclosed within a typical scumbled pine single-glass display case, 71cm by 24cm by 66cm, bearing handwritten paper label to front glass "Merlins - male shot by J.M.R. Charlesford 1857, female shot by . . . . Fellowfield 187?"

Joseph Cullingford was from a family of three brothers and was employed as Curator to Durham University, although not exclusively tied to the University he continued to work privately throughout his lifetime, very much a collectible artist who appears to have died at an early age in 1905.