‘Dr Louis Auzoux’ medical teaching aid from the 1860s, estimate $4000-6000 at Bonhams Skinner in Massachusetts.
The models were fashioned in the village of Saint-Aubin-d’Écrosville in Normandy from a papier-mâché mix of paper pulp, glue and cork powder pressed in moulds.
They were called ‘anatomy clastique’ (from the Greek for broken in pieces), because they could be taken apart to show the full structure. Details such as veins, arteries and nerves were added using of fabric-covered metal wires.
Measuring 5ft 1in (1.6m) high on its cast iron base, this ‘Dr Louis Auzoux’ medical teaching aid from the 1860s is near life-size.
At the timed online sale titled Discovery – Curiosities & The Instruments of Science that runs at Bonhams Skinner in Marlborough, Massachusetts, until March 9, it has a guide of $4000-6000.
