Johann Friedrich Böttger
Johann Friedrich Böttger (* probably February 4, 1682 in Schleiz ; † March 13, 1719 in Dresden ) was a German alchemist , chemist and inventor . He was a co-inventor of European hard porcelain . He transferred this invention to the production process and was the founding administrator of the Meissen porcelain factory .
Life
1682-1701
On Thursday, February 5, 1682, Johann Friedrich Böttger was baptized in Schleiz as the third child of his parents. His father was a mint master in Schleiz . His mother was the daughter of the Magdeburg councilor plow. In 1682 the family moved to Magdeburg . In the same year his father died. In 1685 his mother married the also widowed town major and engineer Johann Friedrich Tiemann. This was largely responsible for the versatile training of the young Böttger.
In the autumn of 1696, at the age of 14, Böttger began an apprenticeship with the Berlin pharmacist Friedrich Zorn. During his training his interest in alchemy was aroused, which he practiced secretly in his teacher's pharmacy laboratory. Personal acquaintance with Johannes Kunckel and the adept Lascaris strengthened his striving for the philosopher's stone . When Lascaris left Berlin, he was given a substance that could be used to produce gold.
He finished his apprenticeship in September 1701 and was employed as a journeyman in the Zorn pharmacy. Apotheker Zorn was skeptical of alchemical experiments. In order to convince him, Böttger converted silver into gold on October 1, 1701 because of Zorn and three other witnesses, which withstood all tests. The news of this alleged alchemical masterpiece quickly spread across the country and there was great interest in the “gold maker”. Friedrich III. , Elector of Brandenburg, had a summons delivered to him at the Berlin Palace . Böttger evaded this in the last days of October 1701 by fleeing to Wittenberg . The Wittenberg City Guard arrested him because of the police search for him in Brandenburg .
When the reason for the escape became known, he was allowed to petition August the Strong out of arrest , in which his gold making was explained and the wish was expressed to be able to study medicine in Wittenberg under the protection of the sovereign. A dispute arose between the two monarchs over the supposed gold maker, who the Saxon-Polish regent could win.
On November 27, 1701, Böttger was transferred to Dresden with the greatest discretion. He was given a room in the Fürstenberg house , named after the owner of the house, governor Egon von Fürstenberg . The house had an alchemical laboratory in the cellar, as Fürstenberg himself made occasional experiments. The upper tenth of Freiberg , Gottfried Pabst von Ohain , one of the most capable metallurgists in Saxony, was instructed to take over the supervision of Böttger. In addition, the court official Michael Nehmitz and his brother Wilhelm Nehmitz were used to guard Böttger. On December 16, 1701, August the Strong personally wrote a letter to Böttger, in which he assured that he would take Böttger's request for protection and protection very seriously and that Böttger's freedom would have to be restricted for security reasons until Böttger lost his secret knowledge shared gold making.
1702
From February to May 1702, Böttger was housed at the Königstein Fortress , as there was justified concern that Böttger could escape with the help of Kurbrandenburg. In May, the construction of a laboratory in the Bünauisches Haus in Dresden began according to Böttger's requirements. He himself lived there in an attic. Böttger was allowed to write a letter to his parents. His mother then came to Dresden and unsuccessfully demanded the release of her son at court. The experimental work continued. At Böttger's request, workers were assigned to him for the first time. They were experienced miners and ironworkers from Freiberg.
Excursus Kollegium Contubernium
In 1702 a college Contubernium was mentioned for the first time, the governor Egon von Fürstenberg, Gottfried Pabst von Ohain, the brothers Nehmitz, Böttger and Baron von Schenck belonged. Contubernium was a common term for a small group of people who belonged together at the time. For example, student shared apartments were called that. The contubernium referred to here can be characterized as an early form of a research and development team. In addition to the client, it included scientists and technicians who worked together with qualified workers on the tasks set. First of all, those involved wanted to make the philosopher's stone . The project name for this was Hauptwerk . Another project was initiated at the suggestion of Oberberghauptmann Abraham von Schönberg and Bergrat Pabst von Ohain. Its aim was to find better ways to exploit the country's natural resources. There were montane scientific issues such as better decomposing ore and separation, better fusion, better furnaces and researched like. It got the project name auxiliary work . As a skilled chemist and experimenter, Böttger was involved in this work immediately after his return from Königstein Fortress. He worked closely with Pope Ohain. The Contubernium was mentioned for the last time in 1705.
1703-1704
From May 1703, Böttger's experiments were relocated to the gold house because of the better working conditions there . Böttger moved into two living rooms in the castle. The food for himself and his guests came from the court kitchen. He was popular and took part in the court's leisure activities, such as drinking bouts or gambling. The scholar Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus also used a laboratory in the Goldhaus . During this time, both became closer acquaintances.
In June 1703, Böttger fled his golden cage and made it via Bohemia to Enns in Austria. He was caught and brought back to Dresden. As a result of this escape attempt, he was more closely guarded. In addition, he had to undertake to deliver gold to the value of ten million thalers and gold to the value of two hundred thousand ducats annually by the end of 1705 . Since he pretended to be a baron on his escape , he has since been jokingly called "Baron" in those around him. In any case, as a camouflage, his person was only spoken as "Mr. Schrader" or "the conscious person".
After seven years of absence, the king came to Dresden for a month at the turn of the year 1703/1704. After communicating only by letter for the past three years, Böttger met August the Strong personally for the first time in January 1704. After the king's departure, Böttger's hard work slacked off considerably. Since Pabst von Ohain was bound in Freiberg, Tschirnhaus received the royal order to monitor the progress of the work. Due to developments in the Great Northern War , August the Strong returned to Dresden in November 1704.
1705-1706
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Böttger was further urged to make gold. He promised it again in March 1705. In addition, the other laboratory work did not stop. This year, 14 miners and smelters worked for Böttger for the ancillary work. Pabst von Ohain carried out all the necessary large-scale tests in Freiberg. In September 1705 the gold-hungry king lost patience and ordered Böttger to be taken to Albrechtsburg .
As a result, experiments were carried out very intensively on the main plant . Until the summer of 1706 Tschirnhaus in Dresden and Pabst von Ohain in Freiberg carried out their own test series in addition to Böttger in Meißen. The laboratory equipment required for the actual experiments was invented at the Albrechtsburg itself. Basically everything should be made from local raw materials. For this reason, experiments were carried out with local alumina for high-temperature-resistant crucibles . As part of this research, the team had success in the fire of red porcelain in late May 1706 . The production principle of Chinese porcelain was found and applied for the first time in Europe : clays mixed with quartz and a flux are fired at very high temperatures.
In August 1706 Tschirnhaus applied to Lieutenant Fürstenberg to turn away from the search for the Philosopher's Stone and concentrate on porcelain production. This only allowed him to set up a universal laboratory in the maiden bastion of the Dresden Fortress, in which both were to be researched. Everything came to a temporary end in September 1706. Swedish troops invaded Electoral Saxony and Böttger was taken to Königstein Fortress together with other state prisoners. He was condemned to idleness for a year and was officially mentioned only as "Lord with the three servants".
1707
In March, shortly before it was carried out, Böttger revealed an escape plan in which he was involved with the other state prisoners. The clarification of the circumstances dragged on into the summer.
Tschirnhaus convinced Böttger to research the production of porcelain. In June, Böttger received the king's approval for this. After the Swedes had withdrawn, Böttger was brought to Dresden at the end of September 1707. He lived in a fenced house on the maiden bastion, which was directly connected to the laboratory vaults below by a staircase.
In October and November 1707, the joint research work of the team around Böttger, Tschirnhaus and Pabst von Ohain invented the white European hard-paste porcelain. Since alabaster was used as the flux , it is a lime porcelain. Today it is called Böttger porcelain . The recipe for the red porcelain , christened by Böttger Jasper Porcelain , has been perfected. Today this red porcelain stoneware is known as Böttger stoneware . A separate recipe for Dutch porcelain was also developed during this period of work .
Due to this work progress, the king tightened the security precautions. On November 20, 1707, a decree was issued on the funds necessary for Böttger's livelihood. The same decree also stipulated the sums of money that should be made available to Böttger from the state coffers to run the factories that were still to be set up. In addition to the funds for his experiments, he himself received 50 thalers a month for his personal needs. In addition to the Freiberg miners and huts, who each received 8 thalers a month, Chamber Councilor Dr. Nehmitz (with 150 thalers), Council of Tschirnhaus (with 100 thalers) and Dr. Bartholomäi (with 10 thalers) assigned by the king to "work and service". These wages were paid late and incompletely, if at all.
Due to health problems, Böttger was allowed to build an orangery within the palisade fence of his house. He was warned to devote more time to the main work . From December 31, 1707, the long-time involved personal physician Böttgers, Dr. Bartholomäi, initiated by Böttger on the king's orders, into the secrets of porcelain manufacture, was an arcanist .
1708
On January 15, Bartholomäi noted the optimal mass offset for white porcelain during a series of tests he carried out. The exact date of the European porcelain invention will be recorded today on this laboratory protocol.
Böttger took over the organization for the establishment of a permanent faience and porcelain production in Dresden. On April 24th, August the Strong published a letter of intent to set up a porcelain factory alongside other manufacturers. Since Böttger was not allowed to appear in public as a prisoner of state, Dr. Bartholomäi appointed administrator. Michael Nehmitz and Tschirnhaus should form the board of directors. As a production site of "Porcellain-Manufactur" the vault in the Jungfernbastei and Dresdner plot of Dr. were Bartholomäi used. At the time, Böttger was still looking for the right recipe for the glaze. There are no porcelain colors either.
The security precautions for Böttger's arrest were tightened again in May. His casual meetings with craftsmen and artists were stopped. A second picket fence was drawn around his house, and a street lamp was put up at every corner of the fence. The number of guards has increased.
On June 4th the founding of a factory for Delft faience was announced under the name "Backerey of Dutch as well as plates as round stones and vessels" . Böttger set it up near the Dreikönigskirche . At the end of June , experiments were carried out for the first time with Schnorrscher earth , kaolin . Böttger spent the rest of the year trying to find workable production processes for the porcelain. In addition, during this phase of product development he worked with artists such as the sculptor Thomae and the goldsmith Irminger. Tschirnhaus's death on October 11 hit Böttger hard. He had got on very well with the scholar.
1709
After Tschirnhaus' death, Böttger developed the right glaze as the second decisive step towards fully-fledged porcelain . On March 28, 1709, he reported the inventions to the king in a memorandum. In it, the 29-year-old also defended himself against defamation at court:
"But I am shocked when I think that for so long I have been in constant misery, Ew. Mayst. but in ever resisting patience I was able to receive ... But whether the eight-year loss of my freedom was such that I as a person had never had to worry about a watch, I leave Ew to the most illuminating reflection. Royal Mayst. and a silent and impartial judgment of the whole world ... Because there are some people who, without further ado, put me among the number of people whose arts only consist in useless subtleties, but not in real sciences ... But with that the past time through let the first one be meliorated again in something: So I hereby venture into all subservience, Ew. Mayst. To humbly ask that an obligated commission be lowered, which my present scientific research should thoroughly examine whether the same countries are useful and necessary, or harmful and impracticable. "
His proposal, made in this document, to have an evaluation committee examine the invention was accepted. The commission failed the first samples. It was adjourned to November.
Böttger feared for his life after the news reached him that the gold maker Caetano was executed by the Prussian king. Against this background, the king commissioned him to deliver six hundred thousand ducats a year for his freedom from October 1st until the value of 60 million Reichstalers was reached.
In October, Böttger sent the evaluation committee, along with new product samples, a business plan in which the artistic and commercial conception of the porcelain production was set out. This time the commission gave a positive verdict and production could officially start. Still under pressure because of the main work , at the end of December August he revealed to the strong his inability to make gold and asks for mercy.
1710
On January 23, the invention of porcelain was announced and the existence of a porcelain factory in Dresden was announced. The production facilities for porcelain production moved step by step to Meissen on the Albrechtsburg from March.
In May, dishes made of red jasper porcelain were sold for the first time at the Easter fair in Leipzig and samples of white porcelain were presented. Financially, the trade fair appearance became a losing business for Böttger, who had advanced the costs. That didn't discourage him. Further deliveries to other trade fairs left the company.
The founding decree of the royal Polish and electoral Saxon porcelain manufacturers dated June 6, 1710. It was set up in the Albrechtsburg in Meissen. Böttger was their first technical manager. Establishing the production facility was made more difficult by the fact that Böttger had to remain under supervision in Dresden. His visits to Meissen were rare.
The Dresden court bought a piece of land for a stone and grinding mill to process the Saxon gemstones . This acquisition was also necessary with a view to the refinement of the jasper porcelain. Böttger was commissioned to set up a corresponding manufacture. He also had a stamping and stamping mill for porcelain raw materials planned in this mill.
On December 29th, Böttger became administrator of the porcelain manufactory and all the factories still to be set up by decree, which led to disputes over competence with director Michael Nehmitz.
1711-1713
The boundaries between technical management and commercial management of the company were still very blurred at that time. Director Nehmitz preferred to take porcelain orders from court. The conflicts only eased when the owner of the porcelain factory stipulated the responsibilities of Böttger and Nehmitzen in detail.
Tschirnhausen's invention of a wood-saving melting furnace was further developed by Böttger, which not only led to a large saving in fuel, but also enabled him to visit the Freiberg district in the summer to monitor the large-scale tests there. In July, Böttger put the blame for failed goldmaking attempts on external circumstances.
In May 1712 the grinding and polishing mill in what is now Dresden- Löbtau started its work. The year 1712 was filled with work for Böttger to master the firing process and generally to get production running. Financial problems in the porcelain factory caused August the Strong to officially declare that Böttger could take out loans in his, August's, name. The response to this was very little. Even the investor Berend Lehmann declined a financial commitment, although requested by the king.
In 1713, at the urging of August the Strong, Böttger resumed work on gold production. On March 20, in the presence of the king, he conducted an alchemical display experiment and produced a gold and a silver nugget. Both are exhibited today in the porcelain collection in Dresden.
In April Böttger fell seriously ill for the first time. After the death of his stepfather in the spring, he brought his family from Magdeburg to Dresden. White porcelain was now also for sale at the Leipzig Easter Fair. August the Strong took part in the Northern War again. In this context, the porcelain factory ran out of money and Böttger used a lot of energy to raise the necessary capital. He took an important technological step with the new development of kilns for the glaze firing. As an administrator, Böttger also looked after the Dresden glassworks and, at the request of the court, developed his own method of producing ruby-red flashed glass .
1714-1719
On April 19, 1714, Böttger was given back his full personal freedom. However, he had to swear not to leave the country, to preserve the arcana of porcelain and finally to make gold. He moved into a house at Pirnaischer Tor . Solving the manufacturing problems of porcelain took his time.
In 1715 the grinding and polishing mill was rededicated as a mirror loop. Böttger and the porcelain factory got into very big financial difficulties. Unable to handle money and badly financially shaken by the owner's financing policy, he had repeatedly signed bills of exchange and pawns. After his release the previous year, more and more believers turned to him directly. Böttger became chronically alcoholic . He continued to administer production in Meißen from Dresden. The first porcelain shop in Dresden was opened on Neumarkt . August the Strong finally did not want to put any more money in and decreed on December 5, 1715 that the porcelain factory would henceforth have to support itself financially and that Böttger would therefore have a free hand for the rest of his life to earn his living with it.
As a result, in January 1716, Böttger's creditors presented the alleged manufacture owner with his promissory notes for settlement. When he was unable to pay, they obtained his arrest, from which only a royal order released him. Böttger developed a luster paint for porcelain. Since March he was so sick that he could no longer work physically. He was still performing his administrative duties. In November 1716, Böttger had the kilns on the maiden bastion demolished. This ended the production of porcelain in Dresden.
In the spring of 1717, a royal commission dealt with the grievances in the porcelain manufacture for which Böttger was also responsible. Except for an inventory, nothing happened to him. After the gold maker Klettenberg was imprisoned by the king for failure, Böttger concluded another contract with August the Strong on December 2nd, in which he undertook to work out the great Arcanum Universalis and to hand this script over to the king by January 1st, 1719.
In 1718 Böttger was bedridden due to a serious illness. He was hardly able to work anymore. The faience factory was sold to the previous tenant Peter Eggebrecht for 50 thalers because it was unprofitable . Böttger's health deteriorated more and more.
On March 13, 1719 he died in the presence of his family at the age of 37 from the consequences of years of overexploitation of his health in his house in Dresden and was buried in the Johanniskirchhof . His grave has not been preserved.
Afterlife
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Justus Liebig said in his Chemical Letters in 1844 :
"Among the alchemists there was always a core of real naturalists ... What Glauber , Böttger, Kunckel achieved in this direction can boldly be compared to the greatest discoveries of our century."
The German Ceramic Society has been awarding the Böttger plaque for outstanding services to the interaction between industry, science and teaching since 1929.
There is only one contemporary portrait that JF Böttger is supposed to represent. It was created by François Coudray in 1723 and is on a picture plaque made of Böttger stoneware. The only remaining original version is kept in the Ducal Museum Gotha . All other pictorial representations of Böttger are based on this one picture. Böttger was never awarded a title of nobility .
To this day, it has not been clarified which method Böttger used to reveal gold and silver in his show experiments.
In 1993 the asteroid (5194) Böttger was named after him.
Countless scientific treatises and non-fiction books were written about the work of Böttger . His life was artistically processed in several novels and short stories . In 1949 the film The Blue Swords was made . The star combo Meißen released the concept album Weisses Gold in 1978 . In 2008 a Böttger comic was published. On October 24, 2010, the theater play Böttger - The Porcelain ical premiered at the Meißen Theater .
literature
- Carl August Engelhardt: JF Böttger. Inventor of Saxon porcelain . Leipzig 1837, reprint: Leipzig 1981, reprint: Frankfurt a. M. 1982
- William Funk: Böttger's invention and its significance for the city of Meissen. In: Keramos , 8 (1929) [11]
- Willi Goder, Klaus Hoffmann, Ingelore Menzhausen: Johann Friedrich Böttger: The invention of European porcelain . Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 1982; Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1982
- Klaus Hoffmann: Johann Friedrich Böttger. From alchemist gold to white porcelain. New Life Publishing House, Berlin 1985
- Georg Lockemann: Böttger, Johann Friedrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 411 ( digitized version ).
- Hans-Joachim Böttcher : Böttger - From gold to porcelain maker. Dresdner Buchverlag, Dresden 2011, ISBN 978-3-941757-31-8 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Johann Friedrich Böttger in the catalog of the German National Library
- Porcelain collection in the Dresden Zwinger
- Meissen porcelain collection Ernst Schneider Foundation in Lustheim Palace
Individual evidence
- ↑ Klaus Hoffmann: The white gold of Meissen. Scherz, Bern.ua 1989, ISBN 978-3-502-16318-3 , p. 110.
- ^ Dresden State Archives; "Acta. Varia die Böttchersche and other papers relating to the invention of porcelain “Loc. 1340
- ^ State Archives Dresden Loc 976
- ↑ Very Highest Decree of November 20, 1707. The seizure of Johann Friedrich Böttger, because of the funds assigned to his free disposition when setting up various factories - Dresden State Archives, Loc. 1341 and Loc. 1339. Fol. 79
- ↑ Hoffman, The white gold of Meissen. 1989, p. 260
- ^ Dresden State Archives, Loc. 41910, Rep. IXb sheet 218b No. 205c, pp. 5b-9
- ^ Title of the memorandum: Unpredictable thoughts about my, Johann Friedrich Böttgers, partly imitated by foreigners, partly by myself reinvented manufactures
- ↑ Chronology of the mirror loop on Weißeritzmühlgraben.de; accessed on May 26, 2018
- ↑ on the financial problems see Engelhardt, JF Böttger, Inventor of Saxon Porcelain , 1837, p. 360 ff.
- ↑ the corresponding website of the DKG , accessed on December 1, 2015
- ^ Böttger portrait as a copper engraving from 1830 at Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden online; accessed on May 26, 2018
- ↑ Minor Planet Circ. 22507 (PDF)
- ↑ Selection of historical novels at the University of Vienna , accessed on December 1, 2015.
- ↑ Internet gallery on the comic artist's website , accessed on December 1, 2015.
- ↑ Homepage of the play ( Memento of the original from January 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 1, 2015.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Böttger, Johann Friedrich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German alchemist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 4, 1682 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Schleiz |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 13, 1719 |
| Place of death | Dresden |