Botanical model of a sweet woodruff (Asperula odorata) flower by Robert Bre

Papier-mâché, wood.
Germany.
ca. 1880.
h. 13,8 in.

This botanical model of sweet woodruff, Asperula odorata, also named sweetscented bedstraw, was created around 1880 in the workshops of Robert Brendel in Breslau.

The Brendel workshops, founded in 1866 in Breslau (a city that was formerly German and is now in Poland), gained significant renown in the late 19th century for producing scientifically accurate botanical and clastic models of flowers and plants made from wood and papier-mâché. After the death of Robert Brendel, the founder of the workshops, in 1898, his son Reinhold Brendel took over their management, and the Brendel flowers reached the peak of their fame. A medal awarded at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900 added to a long list of accolades previously earned under the father’s direction, including recognition in Moscow in 1872, Cologne in 1890, and most notably Chicago in 1893. Brendel’s botanical models were widely celebrated for their educational purpose and were extensively used in teaching botany at universities across Europe and America.

Rare and delicate, most Brendel flower models are now preserved in natural history museums or the collections of prestigious universities. They can be found, for instance, at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C., the universities of Bologna and Florence, the National Museum of Liverpool, and the University of Lille.

The Asperula odorata is indeed listed in all existing Brendel catalogs, but the numbers visible on its label do not match either No. 114, which it is assigned in the 1900 catalog, or No. 40, as listed in the 1885 catalog. A poetic typo has even found its way onto the label, where it is named Asperula adorata —“beloved woodruff” — instead of Asperula odorata, meaning “sweet woodruff”.

Sources

Alexander Tschirch, Erläuterungen zu den botanischen Modellen von Robert Brendel, Berlin, 1885 ; Preis-Verzeichniss der von R. Brendel, Berlin W., Kurfürstendamm 101, angefertigten botanischen Modelle, Berlin, 1885 ; Grazinia Fiorini, Luana Maekawa et Peter Stiberc, « Save the Plants : Conservation of Brendel Anatomical Botany Models », Florence, 2008.