Abstract: On the background of discreet, but still curious coincidences between the origin and interest og alchemists and ceramicists in China as well as in the West, we will try to suggest a certain “art of the fire”, clearly distinct and disconnected with our notions of the Fine Arts. This will be done in examining the parallel humiliations of ceramics and alchemy during the late 18th cen­tu­ry, a humiliation which eventually will be revenged by a reading of “Utz”, Bruce Chatwins short novel from 1988. Naturally, due to the limited frame of the talk, we will restrict ourselves to sketch the outlines of this idea.