conventional methods. There was one industry, however, in which more than any other Tschirnhaus longed to succeed—the manufacture
of porcelain.
Augustus's appetite for beautiful porcelain was every bit as compulsive as his desire for beautiful women, and his royal ascendancy
allowed him a similarly free rein to indulge himself. If Tschirnhaus could find a way of making this highly prized material
he would not only satisfy the king's desire to develop local resources; he might also stem the flow of untold sums of revenue
to the Orient. So while the young Böttger was trying to turn lead into gold in Berlin, as he languished under arrest in Wittenberg,
and as he now pursued his alchemical experiments as a prisoner in Dresden, Tschirnhaus was searching equally fervently for
what appeared to be a no less elusive arcanum—the formula for turning clay into porcelain.
Chapter Four
The China Mystery
We are not thorowly resolved concerning Porcellane or Chyna dishes, that according to common beliefe they are made of earth
which lyeth in preparation about an hundred yeeres underground, for the relations thereof are not only divers, but contrary,
and Authors agree not herein. Guido Pancirollus will have them made of Egge shells, Lobster shells, and Gypsum layed up in
the earth the space of eighty yeeres: of the same affirmation is Scaliger, and the common opinion of most. Ramuzius in his
Navigations is of a contrary assertion, that they are made out of earth, not laid under ground, but hardened in the Sunne
and winde, the space of fourty yeeres.
T HOMAS B ROWNE,
Vulgar Errors,
1646
U nder orders from Augustus, the captive Böttger was to be supervised in his search for gold by two trusted courtiers, Michael
Nehmitz and Pabst von Ohain, and helped by three assistants. Apart from these five men he was allowed to talk to no one, there
was no contact with the outside world, and even the windows were shuttered against Prussian spies who, it was still feared,
might attempt to kidnap him.
In Warsaw the king was impatient for evidence of his new captive's skill. Instructions were sent to von Fürstenberg to bring
a sample of the philosopher's stone as quickly as possible. Böttger was reluctantly obliged to pack a traveling casket with
his mysterious powder, some quicksilver (mercury) and various other ingredients and pieces of equipment and to brief von Fürstenberg
on how to carry out the experiment. According to some accounts, when von Fürstenberg arrived in Warsaw on December 14, 1701,
the king's dog knocked the casket containing these precious ingredients on the floor and some of the fragile vials broke.
The lost ingredients were replaced and then, two weeks later, in a secret room in the Warsaw palace, the experiment finally
went ahead under cover of darkness. By flickering candlelight the king and von Fürstenberg donned leather aprons before lighting
the fire and following Böttger's instructions as closely as they could remember them. Predictably, after hours of boiling,
mixing, stoking and bellowing the experiment yielded nothing but a hard metallic mass that was certainly nothing like gold.
Discouraging though this must have been, Augustus was undaunted and ordered that the young alchemist be forced to continue
his research.
The restrictions of confinement and enforced labor at the Goldhouse rapidly took their toll on Böttger's mental well-being.
His life with Zorn had accustomed him to having the liberty to pursue, albeit covertly, his own research—and to set up his
miraculous transmutations. Now secrecy, privacy and liberty of any kind were denied and the threat of death was never far
away. He grew fearful, depressed and prone to occasional fits of hysteria during which, according to colorful contemporary
reports, he would drink to excess and bellow like a bull, grind his teeth, bang his head against the cell walls, cry and tremble
uncontrollably. Convinced
of porcelain.
Augustus's appetite for beautiful porcelain was every bit as compulsive as his desire for beautiful women, and his royal ascendancy
allowed him a similarly free rein to indulge himself. If Tschirnhaus could find a way of making this highly prized material
he would not only satisfy the king's desire to develop local resources; he might also stem the flow of untold sums of revenue
to the Orient. So while the young Böttger was trying to turn lead into gold in Berlin, as he languished under arrest in Wittenberg,
and as he now pursued his alchemical experiments as a prisoner in Dresden, Tschirnhaus was searching equally fervently for
what appeared to be a no less elusive arcanum—the formula for turning clay into porcelain.
Chapter Four
The China Mystery
We are not thorowly resolved concerning Porcellane or Chyna dishes, that according to common beliefe they are made of earth
which lyeth in preparation about an hundred yeeres underground, for the relations thereof are not only divers, but contrary,
and Authors agree not herein. Guido Pancirollus will have them made of Egge shells, Lobster shells, and Gypsum layed up in
the earth the space of eighty yeeres: of the same affirmation is Scaliger, and the common opinion of most. Ramuzius in his
Navigations is of a contrary assertion, that they are made out of earth, not laid under ground, but hardened in the Sunne
and winde, the space of fourty yeeres.
T HOMAS B ROWNE,
Vulgar Errors,
1646
U nder orders from Augustus, the captive Böttger was to be supervised in his search for gold by two trusted courtiers, Michael
Nehmitz and Pabst von Ohain, and helped by three assistants. Apart from these five men he was allowed to talk to no one, there
was no contact with the outside world, and even the windows were shuttered against Prussian spies who, it was still feared,
might attempt to kidnap him.
In Warsaw the king was impatient for evidence of his new captive's skill. Instructions were sent to von Fürstenberg to bring
a sample of the philosopher's stone as quickly as possible. Böttger was reluctantly obliged to pack a traveling casket with
his mysterious powder, some quicksilver (mercury) and various other ingredients and pieces of equipment and to brief von Fürstenberg
on how to carry out the experiment. According to some accounts, when von Fürstenberg arrived in Warsaw on December 14, 1701,
the king's dog knocked the casket containing these precious ingredients on the floor and some of the fragile vials broke.
The lost ingredients were replaced and then, two weeks later, in a secret room in the Warsaw palace, the experiment finally
went ahead under cover of darkness. By flickering candlelight the king and von Fürstenberg donned leather aprons before lighting
the fire and following Böttger's instructions as closely as they could remember them. Predictably, after hours of boiling,
mixing, stoking and bellowing the experiment yielded nothing but a hard metallic mass that was certainly nothing like gold.
Discouraging though this must have been, Augustus was undaunted and ordered that the young alchemist be forced to continue
his research.
The restrictions of confinement and enforced labor at the Goldhouse rapidly took their toll on Böttger's mental well-being.
His life with Zorn had accustomed him to having the liberty to pursue, albeit covertly, his own research—and to set up his
miraculous transmutations. Now secrecy, privacy and liberty of any kind were denied and the threat of death was never far
away. He grew fearful, depressed and prone to occasional fits of hysteria during which, according to colorful contemporary
reports, he would drink to excess and bellow like a bull, grind his teeth, bang his head against the cell walls, cry and tremble
uncontrollably. Convinced
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