Bottger stoneware from North America and Europe; are they authentic

In the early 18th century, Johann friedrich Bottger, an alchemist recently arrived in Dresden, was assigned to ceramic experimentation under the order s of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. The Elector and his advisors hoped to discover the secret of making hard paste porcela in like the wares imported into Europe from China and Japan. In 1706-1707, Bottger produced his first ceramic body, a red stoneware similar to the war es produced in Yixing, China. The first objects were made following the for ms of chinese prototypes or European metalwork of the period. Recently, the authenticity of a number of 'Bottger' objects in various museums and priva te collections in North America and Europe has been questioned. To aide in resolving these questions several non-destructive analytical techniques hav e been employed, the most important being PIXE. This report is on an initia l study of 25 objects with 16 elements from Al to Zr and Pb being analysed. The results strongly suggest three different groupings, one of objects fro m the Meissen factory during the 20th century, one from the work of Bottger himself early in the 18th century and one from an as yet unknown time peri od and site. The first two groups were previously identified by one of the authors (C.N.). (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.