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Corallium rubrum

Object NameSpecimen of Blaschka Marine Life

Maker Leopold Blaschka (1822-1895)

Maker Rudolf Blaschka (1857-1939)

Made FromGlass, Paint, Metal Wire, Resin

Date1885

Place MadeGermany, Dresden

TechniqueFlameworked, painted, applied

SizeOverall (card): L: 19.5 cm, D: 15 cm

Accession NumberL.17.3.63-373

Credit LineLent by Cornell University, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Curatorial Area(s)

Exhibitions

From the Darkness of the Sea: The Cornell Collection of Blaschka Glass Invertebrate Models

Not On View

Physical DescriptionSpecimen of Blaschka Marine Life, "Corallium rubrum". Glass, paint, metal wire, resin; flameworked, painted, applied. The model consists of two parts: a branched colony and an enlargement on a paper card base. The colony is a tree like structure with 6 main branches made up of an outer colorless glass sleeve with a matte red, textured paint on the outside and partially on the inside surfaces. The outer sleeve opens up near the bottom and reveals an inner tube of tightly ribbed glass. It is unclear whether the glass itself is red or if it is painted on the inside. Only 2-3 cm of the inner tube is visible; it is not clear how far into the outer sleeve it extends. Tiny colorless glass polyps, both opened and closed, are glued onto the branches of the colony. The enlargement is also made of an outer sleeve of colorless glass with a matte red, textured paint and an inner ribbed glass tube. Originally three polyps were glued onto the enlargement, only two remain one of which is fully opened and the other is just starting to unfurl.
Provenance

Owner Cornell University