The 'Mona Lisa of ceramics' sat behind glass for 115 years. We digitized it so people could finally touch it.

Adelaide Robineau's Scarab Vase

QUESTION NO. 100-2024-03

HOW DO YOU SCAN SOMETHING THAT ABSORBS AND REFLECTS LIGHT UNPREDICTABLY?

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This question came to us from the Everson Museum in Syracuse, New York.

At the Everson Museum is an extraordinary piece of American art—one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of ceramics in the United States. The jewel and pride of that collection is Adelaide Robineau's 1910 Scarab Vase, a landmark work of art, craft, and technology that turned the art world on its head when she created it.

They asked us: Could we digitize and replicate the Scarab Vase?

A Piece of Protest

Adelaide Robineau was a pioneer. She was one of the first people on the planet to figure out a recipe for porcelain that allowed for hand work. This was groundbreaking—porcelain had been an industrial secret, controlled and guarded.

And what did she do with this discovery? She shared her recipe for free.

She started journals. She started writing so that other women could do what she had done. She was experiencing extreme adversity during her time due to her gender—women at that time were only allowed to paint on top of other people's porcelain. They weren't allowed to throw their own pieces or craft their own vases.

Adelaide Robineau did it all. She created her own sculptures. She fired them herself. She shared her knowledge freely.

Historical photograph of Adelaide Robineau in her studio

Extreme close-up of carved scarab beetles showing glazed edges and unglazed relief porcelain

The Mona Lisa of Ceramics

The Scarab Vase itself is a piece of protest—a singular talent refusing to be limited by the constraints of her era. It's been called the "Mona Lisa of ceramics."

And now, 115 years later, it sits behind glass in the Everson Museum. Untouchable. Precious. Protected.

What if it could be experienced differently?

Adelaide Robineau broke barriers and shared knowledge. 115 years later, we're helping her masterpiece break through glass and reach more hands.

We Thought This Would Be Easy

Stephanie and I went down to the Everson Museum to inspect the Scarab Vase. We were greeted with an intricate and extraordinary work of porcelain, but not something we thought would be incredibly difficult.

We had been 3D scanning for years.

We had scanned:

Sculptures and humans

Brains and buildings

Benvenuto Cellini's 16th-century work

Holden Observatory at Syracuse University

Columbus Monument in Syracuse

Countless precious works of art

We were confident. We knew what we were doing.

We staged two different scanning approaches to ensure a strong dataset: Infrared scanning and photogrammetry (photograph-based scanning).

We used the same lighting setup we'd used successfully before. We used the same scanning strategies that had yielded successful results.

We spent 12 hours on site capturing multiple scans with both methods.

Using Photogrammetry to capture images of the Scarab Vase

Stephanie and Isaac Budmen using an infrared scanner to capture data from the Scarab Vase

Processing the data from our initial scane

We spent several months processing and refining the data. When we finally rendered the vase, our stomachs turned.

Failed 3D scan showing pixelated data with large missing chunks and blurred scarab details

Showing what a successful scan should look like

There was data missing.

Huge chunks missing across our incredible and vast dataset. Every time we rendered it, there were big gaps. It was pixelated. It was blurry. Some scarabs were missing entirely.

But how? Where did we go wrong?

We scratched our heads. We manually realigned and checked every photo we took. We ran the processing again.

Same results.

We kept asking: What went wrong?

We've scanned hundreds of objects, hundreds of artifacts. We've used the same techniques every single time. What went wrong?

We couldn't find a single anomaly in our methodology or our dataset.

CELEBRATING FAILURE

Twelve hours on site plus several months of processing equals an expensive failure. But without that failure, we never would have asked the right questions.

Diagram showing light behavior on glazed versus unglazed porcelain surfaces

The Porcelain Problem

Working with a team of engineers and scientists, we identified the issue:

Porcelain.

Adelaide had done something particularly unique. She had:

1. Fired the porcelain

2. Carved into it (creating the scarab relief designs)

3. Glazed only the raised edges

4. Left the reliefs as raw, unglazed porcelain

This created a surface that both absorbed and reflected light in unpredictable ways.

We had scanned in the Everson's library where there was just a little bit of natural light. Just enough that if the light shifted even slightly—and light always shifts—it changed the way light entered the porcelain and how it refracted.

From photo to photo, from millisecond to millisecond during the infrared scan, we were getting vastly different data.

When we used the infrared scanners, light bouncing off the embossed glazed surfaces created reflections everywhere. It was as if we were taking photos in a room of 1,000 different mirrors. Light was bouncing in all directions, corrupting the dataset.

The very properties that make the Scarab Vase beautiful—the interplay of glazed and unglazed surfaces, the way light dances across the carved reliefs—made it impossible to scan with our proven methods.

Maybe, just maybe, could we scan it in the dark?

A Crazy Idea

We had a question: How do you scan something that absorbs and reflects light unpredictably?

Maybe we could scan it in the dark?

It seems almost counterintuitive. We're going to 3D scan, a process that relies on light, in pitch-black conditions?

But it was exactly what we needed to try.

We went back to the Everson and said, "We need to scan again, but this time we want to do it in the dark."

Thankfully, the Everson was bold and courageous enough to give it a try.

Everson Museum auditorium in complete darkness with vase on scanning platform

The auditorium: pitch black except for our controlled scanning equipment

Infrared scanner providing only light source in darkened room

Only controlled, directional light from the scanners—no ambient light, no windows, no reflections

Successful 3D scan showing complete, high-resolution data with all scarab details intact

Success: clean data revealing every carved detail Adelaide created 115 years ago

For our second scan, we moved to their auditorium. Pitch black. The vase in the center of a table. Both Stephanie and I ran the same process again—infrared scans and photogrammetry scans—in near-complete darkness.

The only light came from our scanning equipment itself. No ambient light. No windows. No reflections. Just controlled, directional light from the scanners.

The second dataset went much better.

By eliminating all other light sources, we eliminated the unpredictable reflections. The glazed surfaces could only reflect our controlled scanning light. The unglazed porcelain absorbed what it needed to absorb. The data was clean.

THE COUNTERINTUITIVE SOLUTION

Scanning in the dark revealed what scanning in the light had hidden.

New Techniques Required

We thought once we had clean data, printing would be straightforward.

We were wrong again.

Given the Scarab Vase's scale and immense detail—thousands of individually carved scarabs, each with intricate relief work—it required the advanced capabilities of Think Variant to realize this magnificent piece.

Think Variant had to develop new techniques in SLA (stereolithography) resin 3D printing to achieve the level of detail Adelaide had carved by hand 115 years ago.

This wasn't just replication. This was translation—from atoms to ones and zeros and back to atoms again, with fidelity that honored Adelaide's original craft.

Think Variant SLA resin 3D printer fabricating the Scarab Vase with extraordinary detail

PLEASE TOUCH

As of September 2025, the Scarab Vase "Please Touch" version is now on display at the Everson Museum of Art.

Fully 3D printed Scarab Vase in a nylon-like resin

People of all ages carefully touching and exploring the carved scarab details

For the first time in 115 years, you can touch it

Please Touch version of the Scarab Vase lit from the inside

Isaac and Stephanie Budmen standing next to the Please Touch Scarav Vase

Isaac and Stephanie Budmen standing next to the Please Touch Scarab Vase

It is a landmark piece and one of the first of its kind—inviting the community and the public to experience this one-of-a-kind work, the "Mona Lisa of ceramics," in a fully tactile way.

For the first time in its 115-year history, you can touch it.

You can run your fingers across the carved scarabs. You can feel the relief Adelaide painstakingly created. You can understand the work not just with your eyes, but with your hands.

This is a new way to understand the Scarab Vase. A new way to interact with Adelaide's protest, her craft, her legacy.

Conceptual visualization showing atoms becoming digital data

What Becomes Possible?

As we continue to develop this exhibition, we're asking new questions:

When an object becomes digital—when atoms become ones and zeros—what new possibilities does that create?

What new relationships can we form?

The original sits behind glass. The digital version invites touch. The relationship changes from observation to interaction, from distant reverence to intimate understanding.

What new contexts emerge?

Adelaide's vase exists in one place. The digital file could exist anywhere. Multiple "Please Touch" versions could travel to schools, community centers, libraries. The context multiplies.

How does changing the context change our understanding?

When you can touch something, you understand it differently. When art becomes accessible, it teaches differently. When protest becomes participatory, it resonates differently.

Adelaide Robineau shared her porcelain recipe freely so others could create. We're sharing her masterpiece digitally so others can experience it.

What Porcelain Taught Us

We started with a simple question from the Everson: Could we digitize the Scarab Vase?

We learned:

Confidence can blind you

We were sure we knew what we were doing. Twelve hours of scanning and months of processing taught us we didn't—not yet.

Materials have agency

Porcelain behaves differently than stone, metal, or wood. The medium teaches the process. You can't force your methods onto it.

Sometimes the answer is counterintuitive

Scan in the dark to see clearly. Add constraints (eliminate ambient light) to gain freedom (clean data).

Failure is expensive and necessary

12 hours on site + months of processing = expensive failure. But without that failure, we never would have asked the right questions.

Preservation isn't just protection

The original vase is preserved behind glass. But preservation can also mean multiplication, translation, making accessible what was untouchable.

When atoms become digits, relationships change

Digital doesn't replace physical. It opens new ways of knowing, new ways of touching, new ways of understanding.

Adelaide Robineau broke barriers and shared knowledge. 115 years later, we're helping her masterpiece break through glass and reach more hands.

Different era. Same spirit.

When atoms become ones and zeros, new relationships become possible.

From catastrophic failure to breakthrough solution

115

Years the Vase Was Untouchable

Hours of First Scan (Failed)

Scanning Attempts Required

1,000s

Carved Scarab Details

1st

Time Touchable in Over a Century

Project Data
Title	Adelaide Robineau Scarab Vase Digitization
Original Artist	Adelaide Robineau (1910)
Year	2024-2025
Client	Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse NY
Category	Cultural Heritage Preservation, Accessibility Innovation
Technology	Photogrammetry, infrared 3D scanning, SLA 3D printing
Fabrication Partner	Think Variant (advanced SLA techniques)
Challenge	Porcelain's unique light absorption/reflection properties
Failed Attempt	12 hours scanning in ambient light → pixelated, incomplete data
Solution	Scanning in complete darkness with controlled lighting
Result	"Please Touch" version installed September 2025
Impact	First tactile access to 'Mona Lisa of ceramics' in 115-year history
Philosophy	When atoms become ones and zeros, new relationships become possible

Credits

Original Artwork:
Adelaide Robineau, Scarab Vase, 1910
Everson Museum of Art permanent collection

Digitization & Replication:
Isaac Budmen & Stephanie Budmen (Budmen Industries)
Think Variant (advanced fabrication)

Partner:
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse NY

Special thanks to the Everson Museum for trusting us to try again after the first failure, and for their courage in saying "yes" to scanning in the dark.

To Adelaide Robineau, whose spirit of sharing knowledge freely continues to inspire 115 years later.

Now that we've made one masterpiece touchable, what other untouchable works can we bring within reach?

Curious About Cultural Preservation?

This project proved that expensive failures can lead to counterintuitive breakthroughs. Let's explore how digital preservation can make the untouchable accessible.

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Collaborators

Isaac Budmen Stephanie Budmen Think Variant Everson Museum of Art John Marsellus