In yesterday's post we looked at Raimondo di Sangro fascination with quipus. The prince of Sansevero was known for being a rather peculiar character, an alchemist prone to experiment with different materials, human bones included.
In his palace he had a furnace similar to those ones you may find in a glassmaker's workshop and a chemist's laboratory as well, with a variety of burners. Through his experiments he managed to produce artificial gems and discovered a system to colour glass. He actually managed to reproduce a variety of hard stones, including agate and lapis lazuli and made experiments that brought out or enhanced the colours of some stones and turned coloured gems into white stones. Last but not least, he managed to permeate glass with any colour.
If you like alchemy, but also medicine/science and enjoy mudlarking as well (to discover hidden, unusual and inspiring treasures...), check out the coloured glass medicine bottles from the 17th and 18th century currently part of the "Style London" sale at Sotheby's. Excavated or found on the banks of the Thames, they are inspiring for their green, yellowish and black colours and for the way water, mud and soil aged the glass. The bottles may have contained medicines, but they are reminiscent of the sort of jars, flasks and containers that may have been spotted in an alchemist's workshop like Raimondo di Sangro's.
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