arcanist

plural arcanists

1. historicalA craftsman who has knowledge of a manufacturing secret (specifically in the area of porcelain manufacturing).

   1799, William Tooke (translator), The Life of Catherine II. Empress of Russia, by Jean-Henri Castéra, London: Longman and Rees, 3rd edition, Volume 1, Preliminaries, Section 3, p. 36, The porcelain manufactory likewise entertains, excepting the modellers and arcanists, none but russian workmen […]

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   Ringler has the merit of having raised himself from a common potter to an “Arcanist,” as the Germans term one who is the sole depositor of an important secret;

   1850, Joseph Marryat, chapter 8, in Collections towards a History of Pottery and Porcelain,, London: John Murray, page 148

   […] all the years backed up behind the history of the vase reaching back to the genius of Höroldt, and beyond him to the mastery of the arcanists who had reinvented porcelain.

   2001, Ian McEwan, Atonement, London: Jonathan Cape, Part 1, Chapter 2, p. 37

2. A person who studies arcana or religious mysteries.

   There were on this Occasion not far from us some of the Clergy, […] and also Arcanists or Dealers in Mysteries;

   1791, Emanuel Swedenborg, chapter 21, in anonymous translator, The Apocalypse Revealed, volume 2, Manchester, page 497

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   [Catechumens] had Prayers for themselves, but were not admitted to hear the Prayers of the Faithful, which were peculiar to the Celebration of the Eucharist, from which Catechumens were excluded, But all this was, and might be done, without favouring in the least the vain Pretences of the Modern Arcanists: For in all this there was no Design to conceal such Mysteries as the Worship of Saints, and Angels, and Images, from the Knowledge of the Catechumens;

   1715, Joseph Bingham, Origines Ecclesiasticæ: or, the Antiquities of the Christian Church, London: Robert Knaplock, Volume 4, Book 10, Chapter 5, p. 127

   […] Nostradamus […] positively delighted in word-games, in arcane references subtle enough to drive even the seasoned arcanist mad.

   1997, David Ovason, The Secrets of Nostradamus, London: Century, Part 2, Conclusion, p. 358