The other day I came across this masterpiece in the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris (A museum well worth a visit if only because it has so few visitors. It's just north of the Pompidou Centre). It was made by René Lambourg of Saumur in 1844. It was later displayed in the Exposition Universelle of 1855 when it seems likely that the python was added. Lambourg donated the work to the museum in 1862. Everything visible within the case – the lion, the snake, the grass – is made of glass.
