Blair Museum in Toledo, Lucas County, United States | Museum

Welcome to the Blair Museum of Lithoplanes, Toledo, United States.  The Greek origin of the work means "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 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, Toledo 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.  German lithophane of the Fountain in the Park of Versailles mounted in a blue and red glass frame. When the ambient light is extinguished and the lithophane is back-lit, a beautiful, three-dimensional picture appears in incredible depth and detail. When you see the actual lithophane at the Blair Museum, you will see some additional lithophane magic which cannot be seen in a two dimensional photograph. Due to the three dimensionality of lithophanes, the perspective will change as you walk past the lithophane. The avenue behind the fountain actually appears to move.