Ambrose Godfrey Hanckwitz

• Engraved by George Vertue, English. After a painting by R. Schmutz
  Made in London
• Paper: 8 x 5.25 in.
  Engraving on wove paper
• Not on display
• Gift of Fisher Scientific International
• Fisher Collection
• FA 2000.001.109
• No known copyright restrictions

Description

This engraving shows the bust of Ambrose Godfrey-Hanckwitz (1660–1741), an apothecary from Germany who later came to England to assist Sir Robert Boyle; here he is surrounded by his apparatus. At the left are the furnace and receiver used in the manufacture of phosphorus. The molten product was removed with a ladle to the molds in which it was cast into sticks. Flaming phosphorus and the phoenix, the emblems of fire and immortality, are in the foreground.

Inscription

Hac Amicitiae tessera Fautorib, valedicit Peregrinaturus
Ambros: Godfrey Hanckwitz Chym:
ad Phoenice Londini.