Harvard Museum of Natural History

The Harvard Museum of Natural History has recently put on display 19 of the University’s collection of over 400 marine models– a mini-exhibit within the museum. The case is in the Treasures of Nature and Science gallery.

Here are two gorgeous examples of glass models by Rudolph and Leopold Blaschka, created near Dresden, Germany in the late 19th century.

Mary Blue Magruder, director of communications at the museum writes that many people who are familiar with Harvard University’s Ware Collection of ‘Glass Flowers’ do not know about the glass animals and are excited to learn about the Blaschkas’ earlier work.   For those who haven’t seen the Glass Flowers, this unique combination of artistry and science is truly a revelation.

As you can imagine, a careful hand and eye are needed to prepare this exhibit. Glass artist Elizabeth Brill of Corning, New York, who is also trained as a marine biologist, is doing the work to clean the Harvard collection of Blaschka glass models of marine invertebrates.

Credit: Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (research parent museum). Photos courtesy of  http://www.mcz.harvard.edu/hmnh