Spirogyra

A wet miserable day, just the day for a wander around the local museum. This blown glass model of the freshwater alga Spirogyra caught my eye.

The model was made by Robert Brendel (c. 1821–1898) and his son Reinhold Brendel (c. 1861–1927) who were botanical model-makers working first in Breslau and then in Grunewald Berlin.They also produced beautiful and accurate models of enlarged flowers made of papier mâché, but with other materials added to give detail and texture: wood, cotton, rattan, pulp cane, glass beads, feathers and gelatine. Reinhold was decorated with the Prussian silver state medal in appreciation of his business activities.