Chrysopoeia is Greek for "goldsmithing." It's the alchemical process or action of turning a base metal such as lead into the noble metal gold, especially through various means of alloys, colorings and dyes.
At some point, someone decided the main goals of alchemy are:
Discover a potion of immortality or Elixir of Life
Find a panacea to cure all disease
Turn base metals into gold or silver (noble metals)
... and there's a stone or substance, made of prima materia, which can do all three.
The earliest reference known to the goals of alchemy comes from a Middle English 14th century poem depicting a search for a "philosopher's stoon" and/or elixir.
The lapis philosophorum (stone of the philosophers) first appears in the 13th century. When the goals of alchemy become specifically codified is hard to say.
The term chrysopoeia equates with Ancient Greek khrusopoiía. Both terms mean the same, goldsmithing. However in alchemy it's often used to reference artificial production of gold, and the coloring and manipulation of other metals to resemble gold.
A brief alchemical work, the Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra (c. 300 AD) is attributed to Cleopatra the Alchemist. It's believed to be a later copy. The document depicts an ouroboros encircling the Greek words "all is one" or "one is all", a concept related to Hermetic philosophy.
Stephanus of Alexandria (c. 580 - 640), Neoplatonist philosopher and teacher, is considered the last Alexandrian intellectual before the Islamic conquest. His move to Constantinople bridges the gap between east and western thought.
His poem De Chrysopoeia refers to gold making / goldsmithing. Stephanus is also the author of the work On the Great and Sacred Art of Making Gold. He says,
“Put away the material theory, so you may be deemed worthy to see the hidden mystery with your intellectual eyes.”
The term argyropoeia derives from the Ancient Greek arguropoiía or silversmithing. In alchemy it has come to mean artificial creation of silver, possibly through copper alloys, mercury and zinc.
As ancient metallurgy develops, the process of gold-plating or silver-plating applies a coating of the noble metal to a base metal such as copper, lead, nickel and zinc. The ancient Romans have a system in place for gold plating.
Gold pieces are melted with mercury and brushed onto the substrate. Upon completion, the object undergoes controlled heating, causing the mercury to evaporate, releasing toxic fumes. This leaves a stunning and intricate layer of gold plating.
Mercury and sulfur are defined by medieval Arabic alchemists as the elements making up all matter. Their work is based on philosophies of Mary the Jewess (1st century AD), who applies gender and characteristics to metals. The Islamic alchemists hold her in high esteem.
Above: Engraving depicting Maria Prophetissima from Michael Maier's book Symbola Aurea Mensae Duodecim Nationum. This is a 1617 work with Renaissance symbolism, but the concept illustrates the words of Maria in ancient texts from Alexandria.
One of Mary's chemical themes is joining the male and female. Sulfur is the male principle for female quicksilver. In Renaissance alchemy sulfur and mercury come to represent the Red King and White Queen respectively. The use of "mercury" for the metal is first noted c. 500 AD.
Their unity is crucial to the enigma of creation. Altering mercury and sulfur in the right proportions, according to the Islamic schema, can turn one metal into another and ideally produce gold.
In 1317 AD, the Pope outlaws falsification of precious metals in the West. He's in Avignon at the time, and France is the capital of coin counterfeiting. Alchemists must either work in secret, get an influential patron, or stop manipulating metals and get a real job.
The terms noble and base metals first appear in the late 14th century AD. Noble metals are defined by resistance to corrosion or oxidation. Gold, platinum, and other platinum group metals (ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium) are most often classed as noble.
Copper forms a greenish blue patina from which comes the pigment verdigris. As silver is more resistant to oxidation than copper, it's often considered a noble metal and copper is base. In modern chemistry copper is noble.
On January 13, 1404, King Henry IV of England signs a law making it a felony to create gold and silver out of lead or anything else including thin air. Called the Act Against Multiplication, it also outlaws the act of taking a material, like gold, and creating more of it.
While the concept of making gold titillates the human imagination, that's really all it is. Alchemy comes from metallurgy, gemology and ancient medicine. It's developed as the art of coloring and dyeing metals to look like more precious metals.
Early alchemical recipes include methods to make quartz look like ruby and other precious stones. They teach gold multiplication by adding other metals. The reason are typically to create cheap ornaments and jewelry rather than deception, until the art of gold-faking becomes a deadly game.
From the Leyden papyrus c. 250 AD come gold-making recipes:
Falsification of Gold (Doubling Gold)
"Misy and Sinopian red, equal parts to one part of gold. After the gold has been thrown in the furnace and it has become of good color, throw upon it these two ingredients, and removing (the gold) let it cool and the gold is doubled."
Misy in chemistry is an impure yellow sulphate of iron; yellow copperas (ferrus sulfate) or copiapite, a secondary mineral forming from the weathering or oxidation of iron sulfide minerals or sulfide-rich coal.
Sinopian red may refer to red lead, created by roasting lead white; or an iron oxide. It can also refer to red earth (iron oxide) clay sold / traded from Sinope on the Black Sea. This clay actually comes from central Turkey; using Sinope is a way for traders to disguise the location.
For Giving to Objects of Copper the Appearance of Gold
"And neither touch nor rubbing against the touchstone will detect them, but they can serve especially for (the manufacturing of) a ring of fine appearance. Here is the preparation for this.
Gold and lead are ground to a fine powder like flour, 2 parts of lead for 1 of gold, then having mixed, they are incorporated with gum, and one coats the ring with this mixture; then it is heated.
"One repeats this several times until the object has taken the color. It is difficult to detect (the difference), because rubbing gives the mark of a gold object, and the heat consumes the lead but not the gold."
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