PAPERWEIGHT
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 metal, glass, jade or other material are also produced, either by individual artisans or factories.
In the West, the decorative paperweights are usually in limited editions, and are collected as works of fine glass art, some of which are also exhibited in museums. First produced in about 1845, particularly in France, such decorative paperweights declined in popularity before undergoing a revival in the mid-twentieth century.
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