Around 1700, as an 18-year-old apprentice chemist with the pharmacist Zorn in Berlin - Böttger, also an alchemist in pursuit of the philosopher's stone, locked himself away to discover in private the Alltinktur or Goldmachertinktur (direct translation: gold/maker/tincture), an alchemist's secret substance with which supposedly any disease could be cured and base metals converted into gold, as was much en vogue at the time.

When King Frederick I of Prussia (a profligate well known for his insatiable hankering for gold) learned of this, he requested that Böttger be taken into protective custody.

Imprisoned in a dungeon, Böttger toiled away many a year, at many a noxious concoction, attempting to produce the 'gold making tincture' and, therefore, to regain his freedom.

In 1704, impatient with no progress, the monarch ordered scientist Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus to oversee the young goldmaker.

At first Böttger had no interest in von Tschirnhaus' own experiments, but with no results of his own and by then fearing for his life, by September 1707 he slowly started cooperating.

In December 1707 the king went to the new laboratory that had been furnished for von Tschirnhaus in what is today Brühlsche Terrasse in order to examine the progress on their experiments.

Substantial progress was achieved in 1708 when two shipments of minerals proved to be suitable: a sample of very fine, pure white clay - kaolin from Schneeberg and alabaster as flux material.

After years of experimentation, two more critical ingredients - China Stone (a decomposed volcanic mineral) and Quartz (at 20%) were found.

In a later report from 1731, Peter Mohrenthal wrote: "All of Saxony will remember von Tschirnhaus and his fame will persist forever, as long as the porcelain factory in Meissen is unique besides the Chinese one...

The unfamiliar material inspired attempts to imitate it, and one Delftware manufacturer announced in 1678 that he was making "red teapots", of which no examples are known to survive.

Some red stoneware by rival Dutch potters from about 1700 survives, closely copying Yixing pots in style (the Elers brothers made similar wares in England in the 1690s).