Blaschka Glass Models of Sea Creatures
Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka (Leopold 1822 to 1895; Rudolf 1857 to 1939) · 1860s to 1880s
In a case in the Treasures gallery float what look like living sea creatures preserved in perfect clarity: a jellyfish with trailing tentacles, a sea anemone with its crown of feelers, a sea slug in shimmering colour. They are made of glass. In the second half of the nineteenth century the Bohemian father and son Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka produced thousands of such models for museums and universities around the world, and the Natural History Museum holds one of the finest groups. Each is a scientific record and a small miracle of craft at the same time.
Soft bodied marine animals are almost impossible to preserve. In spirit they shrink, collapse and lose their colour. The Blaschkas solved the problem by shaping molten glass over a lamp flame, then adding wire, paint and glue to build tentacles and internal organs. Look closely and you will see how thin the glass is, how the colour is applied from the inside, and how accurately the anatomy follows the illustrations in scientific monographs of the day. The Blaschkas worked from published plates, from living animals kept in their own aquarium in Dresden, and from specimens sent to them by naturalists.
The workshop sold its models through a catalogue and was eventually hired exclusively by Harvard University to make the celebrated Glass Flowers. After that no more marine models were made, and the technique died with Rudolf in 1939. Nobody has since been able to reproduce their work exactly. The museum's models were bought in the 1870s and 1880s for teaching, and now stand as a reminder that art and science once shared the same bench.
Did You Know? The Blaschkas never took on apprentices, so the exact recipe for their glass and glue was lost when Rudolf died.
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