Object Literature
This piece was either made by Bock Steger or Marcus Sommer.
Marcus Sommer started the existing firm Somso in 1876, with Bock Steger being the more famous of the two. If this is by Bock Steger we cannot find another comparable example.
Franz Josef Steger collaborated with pathological anatomist Carl Ernst Bock (1809-1874) at the University of Leipzig to produce models for the instruction of students. These were either direct casts or sculpted in plaster, porcelain or wax. Steger is best known for his plaster models. Steger’s instructive models were sold in the mid-1800s through international catalogues and scientific shops in Germany. Steger models are of significant historical interest because of their contribution to anatomical teaching from the late nineteenth century to the present day, and replicas of much of this particular collection (the originals are on display only) are still used in the teaching of anatomy in post-graduate anatomy courses.
If only my liver were this pretty.