Search for Museums search only in name Advanced search  Museums near here  Browse                Select at random  ToolBox Suggest a new Museum Link to this Museum Report an error Manage this Museum Site Info About EveryMuseum.com Contact us 652735 hits since 2006/11/01		»Home »Hours/Admission The Blair Museum of Lithophanes The Toledo Botanical Garden 5403 Elmer Dr Toledo, OH 43615  www.lithophanemuseum.org Google Maps - Yahoo! Maps - MapQuest What is a Lithophane? The Greek origin of the work means "light in stone" or to "appear in stone". "light in stone" or to "appear in stone" How beautifully this describes these porcelain castings which, in ambient light, seem only to be bumpy surfaces forming a vague picture "and these is really nothing to see" as Mr. Blair always said. But, when the ambient light is extinguished and the lithophane is back-lit, a beautiful, three-dimensional picture appears in incredible depth and detail. Popular in Europe in the mid-19th Century, lithophanes began their life as a thin sheet of beeswax. Artisans carved the pictures in the wax, a plaster-of-Paris mold was made French lithophane of a solder confronting Napoleon. from the wax carving and the porcelain slip was poured in this mold to dry. Removed from the mold, the porcelain was then fired. Where the picture is the lightest, the porcelain is very thin, and where it is darkest, the porcelain is very thick. They functioned as candle shields, night lights, lampshades, fire screens, veilleuse-théières (tea warmers) and were hung in windows to catch the light. The Blair Museum of Lithophanes has the largest collection of these unique porcelain pictures in the world. They offer a wide variety of subjects, reproductions of famous religious art, nature, land and seascapes, historic figures and architecture, and scenes of everyday life. Some are humorous, some are awe-inspiring, all are delightful..