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The Arcanum: The Extraordinary True Story
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About The Arcanum: The Extraordinary True Story
Product Description Tells the story of how the West learned to make porcelain, focusing on Bottger, who discovered the arcanum, or secret formula; and Herold and Kandler, artists at the new Meissen Porcelain Manufacture Amazon.com Review Since the middle ages, Western Europeans have practiced alchemy, a primitive form of chemistry, in the great hope of transforming base metal into gold. In the early 18th century, a second great secret puzzled Western Europe's early scientists: how to make porcelain. Recently arrived from the Orient, porcelain quickly became a symbol of power, prestige, and good taste. In The Arcanum, Janet Gleeson presents an entertaining and informative account of the invention of European porcelain and the founding of the Meissen Porcelain Manufacture outside Dresden, Germany. Her narrative focuses on three individuals: Alchemist Johann Frederick Böttger inadvertently discovered the arcanum, or secret formula, for making porcelain; Johan Gregor Herold, an ambitious artist, developed colors and patterns of unparalleled brilliance at the newly established Meissen Porcelain Manufacture; Johann Joachim Kaendler, a virtuoso sculptor, used the Meissen porcelain to invent a new art form. Interwoven with the story of Augustus the Strong, the greedy and ambitious king of the Kingdom of Saxony, who held Böttger captive until he discovered the formula, Gleeson's tale reads easily and maintains a high level of suspense and intrigue throughout. --Bertina Loeffler From Publishers Weekly Who would have thought that the story of porcelain would be such a rousing tale of wealth, intrigue and outrageous greed and gluttony? In an all-but-abandoned German mountaintop castle called Albrechtsburg in the town of Meissen, a brilliant 18th-century apothecary and alchemist by the name of Johann Frederick Bottger discovered the secret for making porcelain, which was the next best thing to gold at the time in Europe. Like many other alchemists of his day, Bottger had once untruthfully claimed to have found the secret formula for turning base metals into gold. But for King Augustus of Saxony, who?smelling fortune?promptly imprisoned the young scientist, the arcanum for porcelain, or china, would have to suffice. Gleeson's lively account of how Meissen became the West's first porcelain center follows a colorful cast of characters: the lascivious Augustus; two rival decorative artists, Johann Gregor Herod and Johann Joachim Kaendler, who applied their skills as diligently against each other as they did in creating precious porcelain objects; and goldsmith Christo Konrad Hunger, a "hard-bitten profiteer" who would "happily stoop to intimidation, threats, and all manner of chicanery if it would help to fill his purse." Greed?for money, fame, porcelain or power?seems to have motivated everyone associated with Meissen, including the author's apparent favorite, "the unfortunate Bottger," whose youthful boasting and actual genius in the laboratory made it all possible. Though somewhat hastily wrapped up, this is delightful historical narrative. Major ad/ promo. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal The story of Johann Friedrich Bottger, imprisoned by a greedy king after discovering how to make porcelain. A No. 1 London Times best seller. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist The birthplace of European porcelain, Dresden and environs attract throngs transfixed by the translucent exquisiteness of that luxury ceramic. So fine a thing must conceal a fine story, which emerges wonderfully in Gleeson's charming account of the (re)invention of porcelain, which the Chinese had made for centuries. The few examples that reached Europe unbroken stoked the lust of Augustus II of Saxony, a roueof Brobdingnagian appetites. His extravagance was so boundless he ordered a porcelain palace to be built (it was not completed), but that's getting ahead of the story. Gleeson's hero is Johann Fred
