Lithophane

Manufacturer	KPM. Königliche Porzellan-Manufactur
Title	"Thisbe"
Place	Berlin (Germany)
Date	1842-1846
Register	01122

Lithophane depicting Tisbe, lover of Pyramus, whose story is part of Ovid's Metamorphoses. In the picture she is seen listening to Pyramus through a crack in the wall, which connected the homes of the two unfortunate lovers. The word lithophane comes from Greek and means 'light in stone' or 'appears in stone'. It consists of a porcelain plate on which a bas-relief image has been modeled. If one illuminates it from behind, backlighting, the image that appears by transparency gives a surprising sense of reality and depth, with the perception of all the shades of grey. In places where the thickness of porcelain is greater, the shade of grey is deeper, and vice-versa, in spaces where the porcelain is thinner, the shade of grey drifts towards white. Baron Paul de Bourguignon de Roubelles was the first to patent this technique in 1827 in Paris. However, it is quite certain that the first lithophanes were created by the Chinese, masters in the treatment of porcelain. This lithophane was made in the workshops of the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur, the royal porcelain factory founded by Frederick the Great in 1763 in Berlin.

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