The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher’s Stone, Discovers Phosphorus, and prays for the successful Conclusion of his operation, as was the custom of the Ancient Chymical Astologers Joseph Wright 1771, reworked 1795

Alchemists had traditionally sought the ‘philosopher’s stone,’ which would transmute base metals into gold. Wright’s alchemist, rather than producing gold has stumbled on a previously unknown substance, phosphorus. Scientific discoveries made by accident, as the picture suggests, can lead to important advances and indeed the discovery of phosphorus in 1669 has been argued to mark the beginning of modern chemistry.
Characteristically Wright researched the scientific details of the picture by consulting a number of sources, including the advice of his friend Peter Perez Burdett. Using a small intense light source to illuminate the picture is also characteristic of his work, though rather less so after his return from Italy.

Chinaman from Chinoiserie watch-stand, Derby China Works c1750-55

This magnificent early piece is from the Andrew Planché period at the China Works at Derby, before William Duesbury joined the company. Chinoiserie was a fashionable style in the decorative arts, based on Europeans’ imagined notions of China. It reached its height in the mid eighteenth-century as part of the ornate rococo style, after which it gave way to the more austere aesthetics of Neo-Classicism. Admiration for Chinese porcelain, the production of which eluded most Europeans manufacturers, was a strong element in popularising Chinoiserie.

Augmentation

Derby porcelain prided itself on being compared in quality to that of the Meissen factory in Saxony. It was there at the beginning of the eighteenth-century that an alchemist, Johann Friedrich Böttger, became the first person to produce true porcelain in Europe. Like Wright’s alchemist, Böttger’s discovery was an accidental by-product of his search for gold.