Glass slugs and other delights

cimpanzeehand1glasssquid1elephantheartmolejar

I spent the afternoon sketching at the Grant Museum of Zoology, part of University College London. It’s an amazing collection of zoological specimens and other oddities, such as the mid-18th century Blaschka glass specimens – beautifully detailed life size models of snails, slugs, jellyfish and squid. Other favourite items included a disembodied chimpanzee hand, a jar of moles (rather like a jar of sweets but more macabre, with little pink paws instead of wrappers), and a large model of an elephant’s heart.

3 thoughts on “Glass slugs and other delights

  1. lea

    i like the drawing and especially the chimpanzee hand, but i can imagine it must have been a macabre collection. a glass of moles, the strangest thought : )

  2. number1 fan fiona

    It looks as if the squid is going to eat the jar of moles. 😀 I love it!!!!

  3. Kirsty E Smith

    This looks like my sort of museum. The glass specimens look amazing. Really very unique. I like the fact that they sometimes used painted paper slipped inside the glass to illustrate intestines. Really mixed media and very unusual.

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