Chinese fireworks or paper fireworks, also known by the French terms feux pyriques or feux arabesques,[1] is a type of optical toy box that displays pictures with twinkling light effects.
The pictures are printed or painted on paper, parchment or cardboard plates, and contain perforated elements.
[2] The box is usually a wooden cabinet with a drawer to store the plates and a theatre window above, with a slit to hold a picture.
Many peep show pictures used coloured transparent paper behind cutouts and perforations and were lit from behind with candles.
[2][3] Editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica from 1810[4] to 1823[5] contained an extensive explanation of how one could produce several sorts of "optical imitations of fire-works".