The Blaschka sea life models

Soft bodied animals are very difficult to preserve, which in part is why we have so few records of them in fossils.  Even in a preserving solution like formalin they sag and lose their colour.  What in life would have been an intricate interplay of shape and colour becomes an amorphous blob.  So it was with a sense of with wonder that I encountered the Blaschka sea life models, models of soft bodied marine life made from glass.  They went beyond giving a suggestion of an animal, to being art pieces of such precision they could be used to teach people how to differentiate one species from another.  In the case of the radiolarian models enabling otherwise microscopic organisms and details to be visible without magnification. 

The octopus below is just one of hundreds of marine organisms modelled in glass by the Blaschkas 150 years ago, and I imagine that for a person who knew their octopi this is easily identifiable to the species level.

A Blaschka octopus, probably Octopus vulgaris,  part of the Harvard collection.  Photo from the Boston Globe
https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/theater-art/2014/07/26/blaschka-sea-creatures-exhibit-opens-harvard/G5zUYHgt4Inqlj8pIjuh8L/story.html

In this blog post I provide an annotated list of websites where my readers can explore Blaschka models for themselves. Consider this a belated contribution to World Oceans Day (7 June). If you find yourself falling down the rabbit hole of wonder at these models I am sure you have the skills to find your your way either back out or deeper in.

The makers

The father and son partnership of Rudolph and Leopold Blaschka made over 10,000 models spanning 700 species in the period 1863 to 1890 (Sarakas, 2016).

Leopold and Rudolph represent a long lineage of glass makers, dating back to Venetian glassmakers in the 15th Century (University of Dublin).

Their craft was not passed to another generation, and to this day some of the Blaschka techniques and skills have not be replicated, which I imagine is problematic for restorers.

The Blaschkas based some of their craft initially on drawings. Of particular note as sources of information for their models were the following works.  As they became more renowned they started to use actual specimens for their work.

• Philip Henry Gosse (1853) A Naturalist’s Rambles on the Devonshire Coast.  A digital copy is available at the Internet Archive.
• George Brettingham Sowerby (1857) A Popular History of the Aquarium of Marine and Fresh-Water Animals and Plants. A digital copy is available at the Internet Archive.
• Philip Henry Gosse (1860) Actinologia Britannica: a history of the British sea anemones and corals. A digital copy of this work is available at the Internet Archive.
• The works of Ernest Haeckel.  Including Radiolaria (1862) and others, many of these works are also available online.

Blaschka glass model photographed by Guido Mocafico (top) and watercolour of the same.
The creature is a blue dragon, Glaucus atlanticus, a small sea slug that feeds on jellyfish.  I think it was encountering a picture of a Blaschka model of one of these that started my fascination with the Blaschkas.  As a child I regularly encountered these blue dragons washed up on Queensland beaches.
Source: https://www.ucpress.edu/blog/21026/a-sea-of-glass-and-the-blaschkas-fragile-legacy/

The Blaschkas' skill is so exquisite that even photographs of their work can fetch high prices.  Of particular note is the work of Guido Mocafico.  If you compare Guido's "medusa" (jellyfish) photographs to his Blaschkas you will appreciate his clear fascination with the later [be warned if you appreciate photography you may get a bit lost on this site!].

The Collections

Australian Museum (Sydney)

The Australian Museum website has images of 43 anemone specimens.  The Australian Museum ordered their Blaschkas in 1879, displayed them until 1941, then moved them to museum archives.

This image of the sea anemone, Hormathia margarita, looks like belongs in a swanky cake shop.
Image:  Australian Museum. 

Cornell (US)

Cornell has a significant collection of Blaschkas.  Their online archive has images of 250 specimens, is well catalogued with both the scientific name and the Blaschka number of the model.

One of the locations within Cornell for the Blaschka models is the Corning Museum of Glass (CMOG). This article on Atlas Obscura  provides some details of CMOG's curation of the Blaschkas.

Cornell was also involved with the production of a film Fragile Legacy, which is available for download via Vimeo on demand.  The film focuses on both ocean conservation and the Blaschkas. There is a catalogue of an exhibition which accompanied the launch of the film. The online catalogue provides images of numerous models, some 3D viewable models,  and images of the paints and tools used to create them.  It also has a map detailing some of the locations for Blaschka collections and associated items (like sales catalogues).

Harvard (US)

Harvard has a collection of 430 Blaschka invertebrate models, with 60 on permanent display.  These form the basis of a recent book entitled Sea Creatures in Glass.  The website also has access to 3D scans of some models.  Harvard also houses the Blaschka glass flowers exhibit.

Natural History Museum (London, UK)

The NHM has 185 Blaschkas, they appear regularly in the institutions blog roll, enter Blaschka into the search panel to find these.  I recommend this Youtube video (6:22 minutes) which shows some of the NHM models and explains their conservation.

Radiolarians are a feature of the NHM Blaschka collection.  Much of the work brought the micro into the macro and would have been based on Heackel's work.  This is a specimen of Actinomma asterocantium.  Image: NHM.

University of Dublin (Ireland)

Has a collection of 400 Blaschkas.  There are very few photographs on their website and a number of the links to other collections no longer work.  However the text on the Blaschkas is informative.

Museum of Wales

Museum of Wales has a number of Blaschkas.  They appear in the following posts. [NB: I found the site was misbehaving on blog writing day].

• Spectacular glass sea creatures of the deep (2007)
• Sea creatures of the deep - the Blaschka glass models (2007)
• Repairing the irreplaceable (2007)
• The glass worms (2016)

Model of the jellyfish Physalia arethusa, a feature in 'repairing the irreplaceable article.
Image: Museum of Wales.