Paperweight

This article is about fine glass art objects. For weights of paper, see paper density.
A glass paperweight commemorating the closure of the Princess Margaret Rose Orthopaedic Hospital (2002)

A paperweight is a small solid object heavy enough, when placed on top of papers, to keep them from blowing away in a breeze or from moving under the strokes of a painting brush (as with Chinese calligraphy). While any object, such as a stone, can serve as a paperweight, decorative paperweights of glass are also produced, either by individual artisans or factories. The decorative paperweights are usually in limited editions, and are collected as works of fine glass art, some of which are exhibited in museums.[1][2] First produced in about 1845, particularly in France, such decorative paperweights declined in popularity before undergoing a revival in the mid-twentieth century.

  1. ^ Hollister, Paul and Lanmon, Dwight P. Paperweight: "Flowers which clothe the Meadows" Corning Museum of Glass, (1978) p 22, ISBN 0-87290-065-7
  2. ^ Selman, Lawrence H. and Pope-Selman, Linda Paperweights for Collectors Paperweight Press (1978) p 144.