Abstract
For the past 300 years the literature on gold, on glass and on ceramics has ascribed to Andreas Cassius the credit for discovering the purple preparation of colloidal gold and slannous hydroxide that bears his name and that is still in use as the most effective means of producing enamel colours ranging from pink to maroon. But not only was it known and described more than 25 years before its publication by Cassius; it had already been successfully used to produce a beautiful ruby glass.
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References
J. R. Glauber, “Des Teutschlands Wohlfahrt”, Amsterdam, 1656–61, Part IV, pp. 35–36
J. Kunckel, “Ars Vitraria Experimentalis”, Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1679, p. 192
This was translated into French as “Oeuvres Metallurgiques de M. Jean-Christian Orschall”, Paris, 1760, by the Baron d’Holbach, whose preface gives the story of Orschall being deprived of his office by the intrigues of his enemies.
J. C. Orschall, “Sol Sine Veste”, Augsburg, 1684, pp. 18–19
J. Kunckel, “Collegium Physico-Chymicum Experimentale, oder Laboratorium Chymicum”, Hamburg, 1716, p. 650
J. Kunckel,ibid., p. 382.
M. Mields, “Aus der Jugendzeit des Europäischen Porzellans”,Sprechsaal, 1960,93, 391
Sir Harry Garner, “The Origins ofFamille Rose”,Trans. Oriental Ceram. Soc., 1967/69,37, 1–16
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Hunt, L.B. The true story of Purple of Cassius. Gold Bull 9, 134–139 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03215423
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03215423