Figure 1  Pickle stand, American China Manufactory, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1770–1772. Soft-paste porcelain. H. 5 1/2". (Courtesy, Kaufman Americana Collection; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

Figure 2  Detail of the pickle stand illustrated in fig. 1.

Figure 3  Bottle, Medici porcelain factory, Florence, Italy, ca. 1575–1587. Soft-paste porcelain. H. 6 13/16". (Courtesy, V&A Images, Victoria and Albert Museum.)

Figure 4  Teapot, Meissen porcelain factory, Germany, ca. 1715. Red stoneware. H. 3 3/4". (Courtesy, V&A Images, Victoria and Albert Museum.)

Figure 5  Jug and cover, attributed to the Meissen porcelain factory, Germany, 1725–1730. Porcelain. H. 5 9/16". (Courtesy, V&A Images, Victoria and Albert Museum.)

Figure 6  Christoph Weigel (1654–1725), The Alchemist, or Goldmaker, 1698. Engraving on paper, 3 3/8" x 3 1/8". (Courtesy, Wellcome Library, London.)

Figure 7  J. Zoffany, David Garrick as Abel Drugger in Ben Jonson’s “The Alchemist,” 1770. (Courtesy, Sotheby’s Picture Library.)

Figure 8  Thomas Frye, Self-Portrait, 1760. Mezzotint. 18 5/8" x 12 9/16". (Courtesy, V&A Images, Victoria and Albert Museum.)

Figure 9  Sauceboat, Derby Porcelain Factory, England, ca. 1753. Soft-paste porcelain. L. 7 1/4". (Courtesy, V&A Images, Victoria and Albert Museum.)

Figure 10  Dish, attributed to the workshop of Bernard Palissy, 1565–1585. Earthenware with colored glazes. L. 21". (Courtesy, V&A Images, Victoria and Albert Museum.)

Figure 11  Tazza and cover, attributed to the workshop of Bernard Palissy, third quarter of the sixteenth century. Lead-glazed earthenware. H. 6 1/2". (Courtesy, V&A Images, Victoria and Albert Museum.)

Figure 12  Crucibles, John Dwight pottery, Fulham, England, ca. 1680. High-fired stoneware. H. of tallest approx. 3 1/2". (Courtesy, Museum of London; photo, Hilary Young.)

Figure 13  Adriaen van Ostade (1610–1685), An Alchemist, 1661. Oil on oak. 13 3/8 x 17 13/16". (Courtesy, National Gallery, London.) The crucibles are in the center foreground.

Figure 14  A personification of Alchemy, from A Collection of Treatises and Poems on Alchymy, Netherlands, seventeenth century. (Courtesy, British Library.) The crucibles are in the lower left foreground.

Figure 15  Sauceboat, American China Manufactory, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1770–1772. Soft-paste porcelain. H. overall 4", L. 8". (Courtesy, Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Daniel Berry Austin; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)