The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-12-09
FLOWERS MADE OF GLASS
A Unique Collection in Harvard
University Museum.
Invention OF Two Artists In Dresden
-WOnderful Creations. the Process
of which Is Kept n Secret-Scfen-
tific Accuracy of the Specimens
ON Exhibition "A Memorial Gift.

o.
sightseer at Harvard is sure sooner or
later. after making the rounds of the
yard" and Memorial Hall. the gymua-
SUM. and the library, to ask at last
where he can see the glass flowers;
and finding them. to linger over the cases
in the university museum which contain
them, with more interest. often. than he
has shown for anything else that he has
seen in Cambridge. The collection, APP
parently. is known from one end of the
country to the other. better known. per-
haps, than any scientific collection,
whether OF flowers or OF other objects. in
the United States. 1t appeals to the COM
mon human love OF flowers for its beauty
as we'll as to the professional botanist for
its accurate reproduction Of all the deli
cacies and intricacies Of flower formation.
and to everybody for the marvellous inse-
nuity and patience that have gone to the
making Of the hundreds of specimens
which 1t now comprises.
The Ware collection of Blaschka glass
models OF flowers, it is called, made by
a secret process by Leopold Blaschka
and his son Rudolph. in Germany, ana
secured to the university by the gsner.
osity of Mrs Elizabeth c. Ware and
Miss Mary L. Ware, OF Boston. who
have established it as a memorial OF the
late Dr. Charles E. Ware. of the Har-
ward class of 1884. The elder Blaschka
died in 1925. leaving his son TO continue
the work alone. While the two were
working together the number OF models
received at Harvard in year some
times amounted to over 100. including
the branch with its flower. and certain
special details on a magntned scale:
but for the last two or three years the
average number of models received has
been in the neighborhood of 20 or rs.
The total number of plants now shown
in the cases at the museum Is 5iS, be-
sides 2i24 illustrative details.
The idea OF such a collection originated
with DR.. George l. Goodale. who is at the
head of the Botanical Museum and the di-
rector also OF the Harvard Botanic Car
den For some years the Blaschkas, then
established in Dresden. had been making,
for museums ali over the world. models
in glass OF such animals. particularly the
marine inyertebrates-polyps and the like
AS could hardly be represented in col
lsctious unless copied In some such dure-
BILE substance. Some OF these models had
been procured by Harvard. and may sun
be seen in the Museum OF Comparative
Zoology. Looking at these suggested TO
DR.. Goodaie that the same process might
be used to make models from the living
plant, which should be permanent and
Tree from decay. and in which the color
and bloom OF the original impossible TO
preserve in pressed or alcoholic specimens
of plants should be combined with com
plete scientific accuracy.
Accordingly. in 1856. DR.. Goodale visited
the Blaschkas in Dresden and laid his plan
before them. Leopold Blaschka. however.
had the German inflexibiiity OF mind which
is SO often referred to as obstinacy, and
his first answer was downright refusal.
But DR.. Goodale had seen in the house
a wreath OF flowers in glass which the
Blaschkas had made twenty years before
for the funeral of a relative, and he was
not to be shaken in his purpose. Tact.
persistence. and the offer OF terms which
doubtless seemed princely to the plain
living German artists finally prevailed.
The Blaschkas made their first shipment
to Or. Goodale in the year following. and
in 1899 a ten-year contract. In which they
agreed to give their time exclusively to
the Botanical Museum, abandoning their
previous geological work, was entered in
TO. This year the contract has been re-
newed for an indefinite period. and Ru-
dolph Blaschka's name is now regularly
carried on the college lists as "artist-nat-
uralist" to the botanical department.
With the first money received from
the university the Blaschkas bought a
comfortable house in Hosterwitz.
town about ten miles from Dresden.
Not far away are the royal botanic gar
den and greenhouses at Pillnitz, which.
with the botanical gardens in Dresden
itself. furnish such living material as is
required in making the models. The
process which the Blaschkas have used
is. as has been said. secret one,
hereditary in the family. and Rudolph
Blaschka. as the last Of his line, has
said that it should die with him.
Whether this will be the case or not.
the laboratories in the Hosterwitz house
have been visited by only two persons
besides the Blaschkas-Dr Goodale
and. not long ago. Miss Ware.
The first models made were, in COM
parison with those being turned out to-
day. a little crude-though doubtless il
they had remained the only ones in ex-
istence their imperfections would hardly
have been noticed. SO great was the skill
shown in the mirutest details from the
very beginning. But the work has steadi-
ly improved in quality. in exactness, and
in beauty. with every succeeding year.
The first poin, to strike the attention,
perhaps. is that the models do not look
like glass a all. A blade OF grass has the
translucency NOT of glass but of the origi-
nal growing l.. the fields. The surface of
The leaf vi q water plant is nothing like
the surface of a piece OF glass. but has the
wany effect OF the real leaf. The very
hairs or tiny excrescence5 which grow on
the stems OF certain plants are produced
with an accuracy which one would have
thought beyond human skill to obtain.
This wonderful accuracy is we'll brought in
a report made from a strictly scientific
point of view, several years ago. by a con-
fributor 20 the Botanical Gazette
Speaking OF the model of the thorny ara
liza, the writer said:
THE building up of the complex IN
6oresence with Its multitudnous minute
flowers. is almost past belief In this
cluster. with its flowers so small that
their structure can be seen only with
lens. while many OF its buds are so min |
ute as TO be distinguishable to the naked |
eye. i counted. OF buds, blossoms. and |
developing fruit. from $500 to 5000. And |
yet every flower has its five petals, and |
five alternating stamens with long fila |
ments l sought to find on the under |
part OF the cluster some flowers perhaps |
less carefully done. as being practically |
out of sight. but they were all equal in |
their perfection. The immense compound |
leaf shows the spines scattered irregu- |
larry along the stalk and midribs. The |
pale under surface of the leaflets is quite |
invisible. owing to the position OF the leaf |
on the card. Were every specimen in |
the collection to be inverted. the same |
accurate work would be seen
The color is naturally the most effect |
i've characteristic OF the Blaschka /
freshness, its brilliancy or |
tenderness. as the case may be. and It's |
absolute truth to the natural flower. |
in some instances the color appears to
l,a n ,io,napt In m the buf fot.