I'll start by noting that paperweight technique (aka "lampworking") goes back several centuries when beadmaking started. Complex paperweight worked started (IIRC) around 1880 using gas and a mouth blowpipe to increase heat.
Paperweights appeared in the mid-1800s in Venice, and later in France. Complex designs with very fine craftsmanship appeared in the late 1880s IIRC. The techniques progressed and some studios turned out incredibly finely detailed work with relatively simple torches.
Paperweight were originally simple glass half-spheres meant to hold down papers in rooms with windows open. These evolved into decorative art for the home. Their form could be half-spheres, spheres with flattened bottoms (cold work), animals (I owned a Hedgehog) etc. Almost any three dimensional that could be imagined could be made - depending on the skill of the artist and the time that had to make it.
Today there are artists like Paul Stankard that create work that is so detailed that its is quite a sight to behold in person. Even photos of his work are striking: