Harvard's New Exhibit Highlights Glass Replicas of Decaying Fruit

Rotting fruit, like a fuzzy blue strawberry or a pear with ugly spots, is rarely considered beautiful. However, much like the flowers, trees, and other bountiful crops often depicted in art, fruits decaying on the vine are an inevitable part of nature. Through the exhibit at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, which focuses on fruits that never make it to the market, visitors are encouraged to view them through a new lens.

The exhibit titled 'Fruits in Decay' showcases incredibly realistic glass representations of apricots, plums, and other fruits in various stages of decay. Each delicate model illustrates the impact of real-life agricultural diseases. A branch is shown with peach leaf curl, caused by the fungus Taphrina deformans, while a pear bears the recognizable dark spots of pear scab. More than 20 glass sculptures are on display.

'Fruits in Decay' is the latest exhibit featured in the Harvard Museum's renowned 'Glass Flowers' gallery. The entire collection of glass models was created by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, a father-son duo from the Czech Republic whose family had been glassblowers since the 15th century. Active during the 19th and 20th centuries, they were celebrated for their lifelike glass replicas of scientific specimens, with 4,300 of their works housed at Harvard today. The decaying fruit models were crafted by Rudolf Blaschka between 1924 and 1932, marking the final years of his career.

'Rudolf Blaschka’s final creations focused on these glass representations of rotting fruit,' said Donald H. Pfister, curator of the Farlow Library and Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany, in a statement. 'They represent the pinnacle of his commitment to precision and innovation. The pieces demonstrate how fungi contribute to plant diseases and highlight their significance in agricultural systems.'

'Fruits in Decay' is currently on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History and will remain open until March 1, 2020.