arcanist

1. (historical) A craftsman who has knowledge of a manufacturing secret (specifically in the area of porcelain manufacturing).Examples: "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 […]"; "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;"; "[…] 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."historical