Towards the end of the seventeenth century, Oxford's chymical community came together in the Ashmolean Museum. Founded in 1683, the institution was part of Oxford University and home to the first official chair of chymistry in the country, with practical teaching directed by Robert Plot in the basement laboratory. The information at our disposal is scarce and Plot did not leave us detailed accounts of his laboratory work. However, a large assemblage of ceramic crucibles and distillation apparatus was recovered from the site where the laboratory once operated, an invaluable material perspective on the experimental agenda of one of the most important chymical laboratories in early modern Europe. The scientific analysis of the materials indicates that the work focused on technological innovation in the fields of glassmaking, specialised pottery, and zinc metallurgy, and shows how the laboratory kept close contact with some renowned artisan-entrepreneurs of the time. We argue that material culture offers an informative perspective on chymical practice in and beyond Oxford. The results provide fresh insight into the Old Ashmolean Museum, an institution that grew out of the Baconian spirit, where doing chymistry meant working at the intersection of artisanal and scholarly worlds.

十七世纪末，牛津大学的化学团体聚集在阿什莫尔博物馆。该机构成立于 1683 年，是牛津大学的一部分，是该国第一个官方化学教授的所在地，由罗伯特·普洛特在地下室实验室指导实践教学。我们掌握的信息很少，Plot 没有给我们留下他实验室工作的详细记录。然而，从实验室曾经运营的地点回收了大量陶瓷坩埚和蒸馏设备，这是现代早期欧洲最重要的化学实验室之一的实验议程上的宝贵材料视角。对材料的科学分析表明，该工作侧重于玻璃制造、特种陶器、和锌冶金，并展示了实验室如何与当时一些著名的工匠企业家保持密切联系。我们认为，物质文化为牛津内外的化学实践提供了丰富的视角。结果为旧阿什莫尔博物馆提供了新的见解，这是一个源于培根精神的机构，在那里从事化学研究意味着在手工和学术世界的交汇处工作。