National Museum in Warsaw

The Gallery of Polish Decorative Art

The exhibition, arranged in 1993, embraces five rooms in which the most precious set of the Polish crafts from between the 16th and early 20th century is on display.

In the fitst room, 16th- and 17th-century monuments of pottery, weaving, goldsmithery and clock- and watchmaking are on show. The exhibits include the cock of the Warsaw Markmen's Society made by Mikolaj Erler in 1552, a table clock made by Jakub Gierke in 1628, and early 17th-century tapestries of the Credo series.

A longcase clock by the clockmaker Jakub Gierke

The second room highlights 18th-century luxury glass articles from the glassworks at Lubaczow, Naliboki and Urzecze. The latter were owned by the Radziwill family in whose manufactories the pottery, rugs and furniture presented here were also made. The display is complemented by Gdansk and Warsaw silverware.

A table with the Radziwill and Wisniowiecki coats of arms

The third room shows decorative art created during the reign of Stanislaus Augustus: clothes worn in Poland, traditional sashes worn with the nobleman's overcoat called kontusz, silver and faience articles from the royal manufactory in the Belvedere and the Wolff workshop, and furniture from court manufactories.

Konstanty Laszczka, model for a vase

Examples of various 19th-century crafts, including porcelain made at Korec and Baranowka and a Fraget silver-plated table of 1840, are displayed in the fourth room.

A bedroom suite, designed by Karol Tichy in 1908, is the highlight of the fifth room. The exhibition is complemented by pottery by Stanislaw Jagmin, Waclaw Bebnowski, Konstanty Laszczka, Jan Szczepkowski et al.

(W.B.)

(2nd floor)

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