The Arcanum

Even at the dawn of the Age of Reason, some of the finest minds in Europe were still pursuing the alchemist's dream of discovering the arcanum, the secret formula for turning base metals into gold. The quest attracted brilliant intellects, charlatans and princes, all drawn in by the promise of unlimited wealth. By the eighteenth century, the quest for that arcanum was beginning to give way to another: the secret formula for making porcelain, the exquisite ceramic that the Chinese and Japanese had been perfecting for one thousand years, so precious that vast fortunes were spent on it. To own the secret of its making would be to command wealth and prestige to an unimaginable degree. An extraordinary episode in culture and scientific history comes to life in this fascinating story of genius, greed, and exquisite beauty.