SheWalksSoftly

Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka were a German father and son glass sculpting team who created stunning, detailed biological models in the 1800’s.

As a child, Leopold was a apprenticed to a goldsmith and gem cutter. He then gained experience in the family business making glass ornaments and glass eyes, during which time he developed a technique which he termed “glass-spinning” (allowing highly precise works in glass).

His son Rudolph assisted him in making 131 marine invertebrate models in a single year (circa 1880), and after a great deal of effort and prodding by proprietor George Lincoln Goodale, their work ended up in the Harvard Botanical museum.

I wonder how many of these beauties are surviving today. These photos are taken from Guido Mofacio’s photography exhibit, on display at Hamilton’s Gallery until May 24th, 2016.

This entry was posted on April 27, 2016 at 8:49 pm and is filed under antiques, glass, photography, sea with tags antiques, glass, photography, sculpture, sea. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.