Enchanted invertebrates: Blaschka models and other simulacra in National Museums Scotland

Abstract

This paper examines the role of natural history models in museum displays in the second half of the nineteenth century and in the early decades of the twentieth century. In particular it considers the 257 Blaschka models of invertebrate animals and some of the other natural history models acquired by the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art (subsequently the Royal Scottish Museum, now part of National Museums Scotland). Attention is given to the intellectual context in which the models were acquired and subsequently displayed, and to their ‘career trajectory’ from being instructional technologies to becoming the subjects of discourses on the art of nature and the nature of art.

Keywords:

• glass models
• invertebrates
• educational models
• museum display

Acknowledgements

Susan M. Rossi-Wilcox, Botanical Museum of Harvard University; Susan Chambers, NMS; and the Library staff of NMS. I am particularly indebted to Henri Reiling, Utrecht, for his generous assistance and his thoughtful comments on an early draft of this paper, and to Elspeth Hector, London, for technical assistance with the manuscript. Photographs are by the author or the Photographic Department of NMS and are reproduced by courtesy of the Trustees of the National Museums of Scotland.

Declaration

Opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of either of the institutions to which he is affiliated.