Blown, cut, polished and wheel-engraved lead crystal glass.
‘The design is based on Thalassicolla Nucleata, a microscopic sea plankton, a solitary ‘spumellarian radiolarian’ that manages to emit light faintly by bioluminescence, discovered by Julian Huxley. It is found only in the Sargasso Sea. As a child I met Sir Julian several times, as I was sent from the age of six to a small boarding school in Sussex run by Margaret Huxley, his sister. Sir Julian would appear from time to time, in clouds of cigar smoke and give us intriguing impromptu science lessons, with a microscope or other interesting things, depending on his patience! He was delightful and instilled a lifelong interest in natural history.’