Lithophane? *May be offensive to some*

[2Minnesota]

My son was with us at a sale a couple years ago and picked this up and for some reason he stuck it up to his eye and saw the nude lady in there. He was "oh my God!" ( he was about 9-10 yrs old). Lol! It was only .25 so I bought it and stuck it in the curio. Awhile back someone posted some lithophane stuff on here and I started thinking about it again. I researched when I got it and again recently with no similarities to this one found. Any ideas? It's diameter at the opening is 2" and 1.5" tall.

 

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[war-digs-it]

Neat item, I would need a different one for each eye...gotta stay busy you know!

 

[GibH]

Not a lithophane, it's a novelty sake cup.

 

[2Minnesota]

I was pretty sure not a lithophane due to the glass orb that isn't in other lithophane items I searched. The sticker on the bottom didn't seem right either. Thank you

 

[batcap]

To anyone who is not entirely clear on what a lithopane is, now is the time to hit google or wikipedia. In brief, lithopane is a type of intaglio artwork in which pictures or designs are carved or molded into a translucent material - usually porcelain. Thus when you look through the object toward a light source you get what amounts to a surprise or hidden image. Lithopanes are rarely labeled, they're there to be discovered. The only two I've ever seen in person was a Japanese tea cup and a German beer stein (I snatched up the stein for $12). They really are fascinating and something that an estate sales agent would likely miss. It takes only a few seconds to pick up an old cup or mug and try to look thru the bottom, but few people know such a thing exists.

 

[tamrock]

My dad brought a lithophane tea cup set back from Japan during the time of US occupation. My daughter has them now, I'll see if she can dig them out so I can post a picture. I never knew what they were called. They are fascinating.

That was EZ to find

 

[mkulltra]

It's most definitely a Saki cup. The lithophane tea cups seem to sell for $10-50. The nudes sell a little better. Look up lithophane saki cup on Google.

 

[Gold Maven]

It looks like a child to me.

 

[2Minnesota]

It is not a child. The picture is much prettier than my photos. Thank you all for the info! Novelty Sake cup.

 

[ivan salis]

nude young Japanese women --were often used on "sake cups" --getting together and "drinking with the boys" is a very old time honored tradition in japan --often" female entertainers" were at drinking parties to liven things up a bit --in the 40's and 50's --- the guys "night out" was quite common both in the USA and in japan .

 

[ivan salis]

its a postwar late 40's /50's type of item from japan -- the "drinking with the boys" night out tradition was quite common for the Japanese and Americans too back then -- we in America had the "nudie' mixed drink glasses that upon adding ice the gals clothes "disappeared" .