Today, I would like to share the works of a group of German glass artists Leopold Blaschka and Rudolf Blaschka.

they are known not only for their superb glass-making craftsmanship, but also for their contributions to natural science. Between 1887 and 1936, the father and son made a large number of accurate glass models of marine life and plants. At that time, most of the plant specimens were flattened and dried, which could not reflect the three-dimensional shape, and the color would fade after a long time, while the glass specimen model could vividly restore the original shape and color of the object.

(picture source: Harvard Museum of Natural History)

(the following Chinese names are not guaranteed to be accurate, please refer to the Latin name. In addition, I wrote the Latin name I use now, which may be different from the exhibit label.)

here are several of their plant specimens:

Blood red pitcher plant (Nepenthes Sanguinea)

cashew nut (Anacardium occidentale)

this is how the cashew nut we eat grows, its receptacle expands into a false fruit, while the real cashew nut grows at the top of the receptacle. For more information, see →. Do you know why cashew nuts never take shells?

towel gourd (Luffa cylindrica)

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maximum rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum)

besides the morphology of normal plants, the glass model can also record the disease state of plants. For example, the following reflects apple scab (a fungal infection):

while I prefer the series of marine invertebrates. Here are some of their ocean glass model works:

Atlantic sea slug (Glaucus atlanticus)

real octopus (Octopus vulgaris)

squid (Todarodes sagittatus)

I don't know what the Chinese name is, but a beautiful sea slug (Stiliger ornatus)

finally, you can feel how reductive it is. On the left is a live scarlet enlarged sea anemone, and on the right is a glass model.

(photo source: Drew Harvell (left), Claire Smith (right))

after reading, I can't help but think of my dream of learning glass blowing, which I haven't realized so far.

Harvard Museum of Natural History

Corning Museum of Glass