Remembrance

All we have of freedom, all we use or know -
This our fathers bought for us long and long ago.

Rudyard Kipling

The poppy is of course the British flower of remembrance.

These model poppies were made by Robert Brendel (c. 1821–1898) and his son Reinhold Brendel (c. 1861–1927) who were botanical model-makers working first in Breslau and then in Grunewald Berlin.They produced beautiful and accurate models of enlarged flowers made of papier mâché, but with other materials added to give detail and texture: wood, cotton, rattan, pulp cane, glass beads, feathers and gelatine. Reinhold was decorated with the Prussian silver state medal in appreciation of his business activities.