This engraving is from the Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers organized by Denis Diderot and other philosophes. It was published in the “Chimie” section of vol. 3 of the Recueil de Planches, sur les sciences, les arts libéraux, et les arts méchaniques (Paris, 1763).
This is the third of the series of plates representing furnaces and other chemical apparatus. The figures run from 22 to 38. The large figure at top represents the furnace as arranged by the German metallurgist Johann Andreas Cramer. The tall figure at the lower right represents the furnace used by the Prussian chemist Johann Heinrich Pott.
“Pl. III” appears at the upper right. The “Goussier del.” signature at the bottom left refers to Jacques-Louis Goussier, the artist who drew more than 900 plates for the Encyclopédie. The “Desehrt fecit” signature at lower right refers to a French engraver of the period.
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