Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk et al.

Glass of the Alchemists

Lead Crystal-Gold Ruby, 1[zasłonięte]650-17

New York 2008 

Stron: 357

Język: angielski

Duży format: 27x32 cm

251  kolorowych ilustracji

Książka używana: stan niemal bardzo dobry

ALCHEMISTS are often perceived äs somewhat stränge and mystical individuals who were obsessed with transmuting the base rnetals into gold. As we know today, they pursued this goal in vain, and most of their theories have been refuted by modern chemistry. However, among the many charlatans and windbags (whom the i/th-century alchemist George Starkey likened to sheared hogs whose "squeaking far exceeds the wooll"), there were a few serious scientists: practical people who strove to improve the various technological processes of their day. These men engaged in what we would call today the science of materials. They had a lasting impact on such technologies äs metallurgy and the preparation of pigments and medicinals. And some of them had the knowledge and experience that were required to advance the melting of glass. 

Several outstanding improvements in glassmaking took place in late i/th-century Europe. Almost simultaneously, glassmakers in Bohemia, the British Isles, and Germany be-gan to produce vessels that resembled rock crystal. Johann Kunckel, a glassmaker and alchemist in Potsdam, Germany, manufactured red vessels that looked äs if they had been carved out of colossal rubies. These achievements were be-yond the means of common glassmakers. Current research shows that they were informed and united by a network of traveling alchemists.

This book, which was written to accompany a major exhi-bition at The Corning Museum of Glass, brings together the results of studies by scholars in four countries. The first two chapters introduce the concept of alchemy in the i/th Century and its relationship to artisans. Five contributions trace de-veloprnents in European glassmaking and advances rnade by alchemists/glass technologists.The success of European glassmaking in the Baroque period is illustrated by a catalog of 117 objects in the collections of the Corning Museum and other institutions. The catalog includes 35 gold ruby glasses, äs well äs the gold and silver ingots that the alchemist and porcelain inventor Johann Friedrich Böttger reputedly "trans-muted" in 1713.

The seemingly endless possibilities of glass continue to at-tract materials scientists, six of whom conclude this volume by providing some insights into their work.

CONTENTS

7                FOREWORD
'•David Whitehouse

8                acknowledgments

12         introduction

23         alchemy as the imitator of nature

35         what alchemists knew early modern chymistry

49         depicting alchemy' illustrations from antonio neri's 1599 manuscript

63         itineraries of glass innovation- johann rudolf glauber and His followers

75         late ^th-üentury changes in bohemian glassmaking

97         johann joachim becher and the beginnings of baroque glassmaking in central europe

107        vitrum saturni- lead glass in britain

123         gold ruby glass

139         catalog

303         the "alchemy" of glass today

t,

318      BlBLIOGRAPHY

338      concordance

340      contributors

343       picture credits

345      index