Alchemy - PICCOLPASSI (Cyprian). Les Trois Libvres... Lot 46

Alchemy - PICCOLPASSI (Cyprian). Les Trois Libvres de l'Art du Potier esquels se traicte non seulement de la Practique, mais briefvement de tous les secretz de ceste chouse qui iouxte mes huy a estée tousiours tenue célée du cavalier Cyprian Piccolpassi, Durantoys ; translatés de l'italien en langue françoyse par Maistre Claudius Popelyn, Parisien. Paris, Librairie internationale, 1860. In-folio of [2] ff.-XII-86-[1] pp. and 41 plates engraved in fine. Ivory vellum, spine ribbed and decorated, title in green marble, gilt garland framing the boards, gilt head (period binding). Scattered foxing. The three books of the potter's art deal with pottery and alchemy. The first book deals with the glazes in clay and metal, as well as the clays used for pottery. The relationship between pottery and alchemy is evident both on the symbolic and operative levels. The second book is essentially devoted to the manufacture of colours. In the third book, which deals with fire, the author explains that fire must be made taking into account the Moon and its different quarters. In this lies the whole art of fire, which takes into account the Odic light, because the like works with the like. The book also reveals the tricks of the trade without which the alchemist cannot conduct the operation on the dry path. Claudius Popelin (1825-1892, who also published a very beautiful edition of the "Songe de Poliphile"), was the first translator of this work written in 1548, one of the first treatises on ceramic technique, revealing the secrets of the masters of majolica. A contemporary of Bernard Palissy, Piccolpasso tried in vain to have his work printed, and it remained forgotten for three centuries before being acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. This rare work served as a reference for Fulcanelli, notably for The Mystery of the Cathedrals, and then for his disciple Eugène Canseliet on the subject of alchemical and hermetic symbolism. The latter brings Piccolpassi's first name, Cypriano, closer to the nickname of Cypris (Cyprian), wife of Vulcan (Fulcanelli). The same goes for the name Cavalier, which he translated as Cabalier. He also specifies in his Alchemy (Pauvert, 1964): "Symbolic iconography has often represented the mineral subject of the sages, in its primordial state and as it is extracted from its mining site, by the arid rock that supports and nourishes a vigorous tree overloaded with fruit. It is this motif that we notice, surmounted by the Latin words "sic in sterili"-so in the barren-on the penultimate page of the very curious "Art of the Potter," by Cyprian Piccolpassi."