The silver-dotted, dark colored salamander and the yellow buttercups were formed by mixing green, mud yellow and white. The scene within the paperweight is an exquisite product of skilled lamp work (a technique of making miniature objects by melting glass over a high temperature flame). Glass paperweights began to be produced on Murano Island and in Bohemia around 1845. In France, production was started about the same time by Baccarat, Saint-Louis, and Clichy. Few paperweights of similar design exist today, making this a very rare masterpiece.