Arcanist

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In the 18th and 19th centuries, an arcanist ( Latin arcanum , 'secret' ) was understood to be a chemist , for example in the manufacture of porcelain. At that time, the manufacture of porcelain was a state secret .

The tasks of the arcanist were the preparation of the porcelain mass, the firing as well as the color design, gilding and glaze. Well-known arcanists were Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus and Johann Friedrich Böttger , the inventors of European porcelain . A self-proclaimed arcanist was Johann Christoph Glaser , who was commissioned to manufacture porcelain for the Fürstenberg porcelain factory in 1747 and was dismissed in 1753 due to incompetence. It was not until the arcanist Johann Kilian Benckgraff that porcelain was made possible in Fürstenberg after he had been poached by the Höchst Porcelain Manufactory .

Metal founders and glassblowers were also sometimes referred to as arcanists.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans Schulz, Gerhard Strauss, Otto Basler: German foreign dictionary: Antinomie-Azur . Walter de Gruyter, 1996, ISBN 3-11-014816-1 , p. 228 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ^ Fr. Steger: Supplementary Conversationslexicon. Supplementary sheets for all conversation lexicons. Edited by Ms. Steger . Romberg, 1846, p. 579 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. ↑ Gustav Fester: The development of chemical technology up to the beginnings of large-scale industry A technological-historical attempt . Springer-Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-642-91528-4 , pp. 180 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  4. ↑ On the trail of ancient cultures - Volume II: Not just a chronicle of the Freundeskreis Alte Kulturen eV Freiberg . BoD - Books on Demand, 2013, ISBN 978-3-7322-2662-7 , pp. 387 ( limited preview in Google Book search).