A Rare German Botanical Teaching Model of an Asclepiad Flower

A Rare German Botanical Teaching Model of an Asclepiad Flower By Institut Wichers & Co., Berlin, circa 1900

A finely modelled and hand-painted enlarged study of a flower from the Asclepiadaceae (milkweed) family, produced for academic instruction by the respected Berlin firm Institut Wichers & Co. The model reveals, in dramatic sculptural form, the complex internal structure of the bloom, including the distinctive pollinia and corona—features central to the plant’s highly specialised pollination mechanism.

Constructed in painted papier-mâché and retaining its original maker’s label to the underside inscribed “Asclepiadaceae – Vergrössert”, the piece stands on its original turned base. Both scientifically precise and visually striking, it exemplifies the late 19th-century tradition of enlarged botanical models used in universities and teaching institutions across Europe.

44cm by 9cm by 20cm