Abstract
The creation of European porcelain was long speculated to have originated from the flow of information from Chinese and Japanese sources; however, no substantive evidence of direct knowledge transfer has been discovered. This paper endeavors to shift the focus from an externally driven developmental process and relocate the principal method of innovation within the experimental framework established by early modern chymistry. Evidence for the use of thermal experimentation will be considered as a foundational element toward a chymical solution to the problem of porcelain production. Excavated material from the workshop of the seventeenth century English arcanist John Dwight and the published experiments of the seventeenth century Silesian natural philosopher Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus will provide the basis for this examination. This material, along with the thermal elements unique to the successful Meissen porcelains will be used to frame the initial comparisons of the technological differences between the European and Far Eastern productions, and serve to pose further questions regarding the impact of experimental techniques and limitations on European porcelain arcanistry.
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Notes
- 1.
Newman & Principe, “Alchemy vs. Chemistry.”
- 2.
Originally composed as Livres des merveilles du monde, the original manuscript was purportedly composed by Rustichello while he shared imprisonment with Marco Polo after the latter’s return to Venice in 1295 AD. A full discussion of Polo’s references to porcelain can be found in Carswell, Blue and White, 52–4.
- 3.
For the full correspondence, see Tschirnhaus, Amtliche Schriften, ch. II.
- 4.
Biringuccio, Pirotechnia (1942), 392.
- 5.
Biringuccio, Pirotechnia (1942), 392.
- 6.
- 7.
“Quam si diligentius perscruteris, illic inuenies quicquid in diuersorum colorum generibus et mixturis habet Graecia, quicquid in electrorum operositate seu nigelli uarietate nouit Ruscia, quicquid ductili uel fusili seu interrasili opere distinguit Arabia, quicquid in uasorum diuersitate seu gemmarum ossiumue sculptura auro decorat Italia, quicquid in fenestrarum pretiosa uarietate diligit Francia, quicquid in auri, argenti, cupri et ferri lignorum lapidumque subtilitate sollers laudat Germania.” (Theophilus, The Various Arts (1961), 4).
- 8.
On the relative value of the potter’s work, see Boardman, “Trade in Greek Decorated Pottery.”
- 9.
For a specific discussion of the social standing of this material, see Wilson, “Le maioliche.”
- 10.
Kingery & Vandiver, Masterpieces, 141.
- 11.
Liverani, Porcellane dei Medici, 8, 47, discusses the mysterious Levantine, while referring to Kingery & Vandiver, Masterpieces, 141, for related material analyses and comparisons with contemporary examples Islamic fritwares and Chinese porcelains. Further material can be found in Kingery & Vandiver, “Medici Porcelain.”
- 12.
d’Entrecolles, “Lettres.” Regarding the use of kaolinized clay for the production of Hessian wares, see Martinón-Torres, Rehren & Freestone, “Mystery of Hessian wares.”
- 13.
For the various avenues of incremental development of Chinese porcelains, see Kerr & Wood, Ceramic Technology, 146–63.
- 14.
The speculation regarding the extended fermentation of clay and the addition of ‘artificial minerals’ to Chinese porcelain comes from Bacon, New Organon, Book II, Aph. 50.
- 15.
The essay by Debus, “Fire Analysis,” encapsulates much of the instability related to fire analysis as it appears in the major texts of the seventeenth century, while Newman, Promethean Ambitions, 251–62, revisits and furthers the discussion as it relates to the art-nature debate.
- 16.
Bacon, New Organon, Book II, Aph. 7.
- 17.
Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist.
- 18.
For more on Boyle and Starkey’s relationship and the work of Starkey as an experimentalist, see Newman & Principe, Alchemy Tried in the Fire, 92–128; and Newman, Gehennical Fire.
- 19.
Debus, “Fire Analysis,” 128–30.
- 20.
Haselgrove & Murray, “Dwight’s Fulham Pottery,” 22–8.
- 21.
Foster, Alumni Oxonienses; and Boyle, Will, 11/408/169.
- 22.
Reproduced in Haselgrove & Murray, “Dwight’s Fulham Pottery,” 142.
- 23.
Newman & Principe, Alchemy Tried in the Fire, 211–2.
- 24.
The patent was issued towards the protected manufacture of ‘transparent Earthenware’ and ‘stone ware’ by Charles the Second, on 17 April 1672, at Whitehall. See Charles the Second, Transparent Earthenware, P.R.O. C. 82 2425 Cal. S.P. Dom Entry Book 34, fol. 155.
- 25.
The findings and details were published in Green, Excavations, ch. I–V.
- 26.
Green, Excavations, 11.
- 27.
Green, Excavations, 65.
- 28.
Chaffers, Marks and Monograms; and Jewitt, Ceramic Art.
- 29.
Schreiber, Charlotte Schreiber’s Notebook, 31; and Haselgrove & Murray, “Dwight’s Fulham Pottery,” 74.
- 30.
For the working practices, see Starkey, Alchemical Laboratory Notebooks.
- 31.
Reproduced in Haselgrove & Murray, “Dwight’s Fulham Pottery,” 73, ai–bviii, 74.
- 32.
Birch, Royal Society, vols. III–IV.
- 33.
Leigh, Natural History of Lancashire, 56–7.
- 34.
The biographical details of Tschirnhaus can be found in numerous sources, including Winter, “Tschirnhaus”; Watanabe-O’Kelly, Court Culture, both include excellent work on Tschirnhaus’s biography and role within the industrial structure of Saxony. Further, the Staatliche Kunstammlungen Dresden Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, through the Tschirnhaus Gesellschaft has extensively assembled materials relating to his work and experiments.
- 35.
The Acta Eruditorum represents what can be considered the first international science journal, published during the period between 1682 and 1782, as founded by Otto Mencke (1644–1707) and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716). Tschirnhaus was a frequent contributor to the journal, submitting no less than 15 letters or essays on mathematics, seven on burning lenses and one on astronomy over the course of 17 years.
- 36.
The most extensive discussion of these experiments can be found in Plassmeyer, Sonnenfeuer, which presents an extensive discussion of the wider reception of his endeavours, refinements connected to the burning lenses, and a complete catalogue of the lenses in the collections of Dresden.
- 37.
Pietsch, “Tschirnhaus,” summarizes the current state of scholarship on the matter, including various visits and investigations by Tschirnhaus prior to the involvement of Böttger. It does however fail to discuss the comments made by Tschirnhaus in Acta Eruditorum during this period.
- 38.
Tschirnhaus, “Speculi ustorii.”
- 39.
Tschirnhaus, “Speculi ustorii,” 53.
- 40.
Martinón-Torres, Rehren & Freestone, “Mystery of Hessian Wares.”
- 41.
Tschirnhaus, “Paralipomenon,” “Singularia effecta,” and “Artis vitriariae.”
- 42.
Tschirnhaus, “Speculi ustorii,” 52.
- 43.
Tschirnhaus, “De magnis lentibus.”
- 44.
Reinhardt, “Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus,” 13, and “Tschirnhaus oder Böttger?,” 32.
- 45.
“4. Lateres, lapis scissilis, pumex, porcellana Hollandica, asbestus, cujuscunque sint magnitudinis, statim ignescunt, & facile in vitrum convertuntur […] 8. Si fragmina minora ex lateribus, lapide scissili, porcellana Chinensi, talco &c. carboni tali imponantur, momentum funduntur, & in globulos abeunt vitreos. Asbestus totus in pellucidum vitreum globulum convertitur.” (Tschirnhaus, “De magnis lentibus,” 415–6).
- 46.
Zumbulyadis, “Böttger’s Eureka!,” tries to tie the invention exclusively to Böttger’s exposure to crucibles, unsuccessfully, but raises excellent questions regarding the relationship of other German high fire wares with Meissen porcelain.
- 47.
Reinhardt, “Tschirnhaus oder Böttger,” 39, 43.
- 48.
Pietsch, “Tschirnhaus.”
- 49.
Cruz, Tractado.
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Wesley, M. (2014). Igne refutata: Thermal Analysis in the Laboratory Practices of John Dwight and Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus. In: Dupré, S. (eds) Laboratories of Art. Archimedes, vol 37. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05065-2_8
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