. Pottery and porcelain, from early times down to the Philadelphia exhibition of 1876 . The elector thought it best, nevertheless, toput him in charge, for safe-keeping, of his alchemist Tschirnhaus ; andwith him he worked on, seeking to discover the philosophers he did not discover—few have done so—but, in mixing clays andpreparing crucibles, it so chanced that a hard and semi-vitreous potterywas produced, which at once excited attention and sharpened inven-tion. Was it porcelain, or could it be worked into porcelain ? Fromthat day Bottgers whole thought and ingenuity were at work
. Pottery and porcelain, from early times down to the Philadelphia exhibition of 1876 . The elector thought it best, nevertheless, toput him in charge, for safe-keeping, of his alchemist Tschirnhaus ; andwith him he worked on, seeking to discover the philosophers he did not discover—few have done so—but, in mixing clays andpreparing crucibles, it so chanced that a hard and semi-vitreous potterywas produced, which at once excited attention and sharpened inven-tion. Was it porcelain, or could it be worked into porcelain ? Fromthat day Bottgers whole thought and ingenuity were at work to ])ro-duce porcelain ; the philosophers stone was forgotten, and he ;indTschirnhaus worked at their new problem. While the character of Bottger docs not bear careful inspection,there is no question that he was a keen, dexterous, and daring man. 232 POTTERY AND PORCELAIX. Tlie picture we have of him indicates a man of executive force(Fig. 125). In 1708 some ware was produced by him and Tscliimhaus whichapproached the characters of Oriental ])orcelain, but it was not wliite or. Fig. ilo.—Johann Friedrich Bottger. transUicent. A teapot of this ware in red uughized, and one in blackglazed, arc in the valuable collection of W, C. Prime, Esq., of NewYork (Fig. 12G, the two tall teapots on the right and left). This was not white, nor was it true, porcelain. In 1710, however,they succeeded in making white porcelain of an inferior (quality ; it wasthick and muddy. Nothing as yet was perfect. What they lackedwas the two fine materials known to the Chinese as kaolin and pe-tun-tse. Kaolin is a native clay, the result of decayed feldspar. It is foundin Europe at Aue in Saxony, near in France, inCornwall in England, and in Delaware in America. DRFSDE^- PORCELAm. 233 Pe-tun-tse is a siliceous stone found in China, and in rornwall, Eno--land, is known as a granite. Tliis last melts at a lower heat, and amixture of kaolin is essential to give strength and hardness
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1878
