Botanical model of a Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) by Brendel

Papier-mâché and wood
Germany
ca. 1870
h. 42 cm (16.5 in.)

Robert Brendel began in business in Breslau in 1866, making aesthetically remarkable and scientifically accurate models of enlarged flowers (as well as vegetation). Those botanical models, meant as teaching material in European and American universities, awarded medals to their creator at major exhibitions: Moscow (1872), Cologne (1890), and Chicago (1893). Following Brendel’s death in 1898, his son Reinhold moved the firm to a suburb of Berlin and won several more exhibition medals.

This model of a Valeriana officinalis belongs to the first series of Brendel models, recognisable by their varnished wooden bases, produced by Brendel in the late 1860s and early 1870.

See Alexander Tschirch, Erläuterungen zu den botanischen Modellen von Robert Brendel, Berlin, 1885 ; Reinhold Brendel, Preisliste über Botanische Modelle gefertigt und herausgegegeben von R. Brendel, Berlin, 1900 ; Grazinia Fiorini, Luana Maekawa et Peter Stiberc, « Save the Plants : Conservation of Brendel Anatomical Botany Models », Florence, 2008.