Alchemical Distilling Stove of Moritz in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2020

Title: Alchemical Destilling Stove of Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel

Maker: Christoph Müller

Artist: Hans Jacob Emck (1550–1650)

Date: ca. 1600

Culture: German

Medium: Copper-bronze (gilded)

Dimensions: Height: 16 15/16 in. (43 cm)
Width: 16 15/16 in. (43 cm)
48.5 lb. (22 kg)

Classification: Metalwork

Credit Line: Astronomisch-Physikalisches Kabinett, Museumslandschaft Hessen
Kassel


During the early modern period, the Habsburgs, the Medici, and the electors of Saxony, the Palatinate, and Brandenburg all employed court alchemists. As in Dresden, the ruler in Kassel practiced the art himself. This stove was built to gently heat three small flasks at once, but its ostentatious design indicates that it was not used in the laboratory, but kept in the Kunstkammer as a catalyst for learned conversations between Moritz and his guests.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/765190