The Royal Castle in Warsaw and the Foundation of the Ciechanowiecki Family Collection Glass Collection Catalogue The Royal Castle in Warsaw and the Foundation of the Ciechanowiecki Family Collection Glass Collection Catalogue Anna Szkur³at The Royal Castle in Warsaw Warszawa 2008 Science editor of publications by the Royal Castle in Warsaw: Andrzej Rottermund Manager of the Arx Regia Publishing House at the Royal Castle in Warsaw: Beata Nowacka Editing and proof-reading of the Polish version: Daniela Galas Index of persons and index of place names: Anna Szkur³at Graphic design, prepress, typesetting: Adrian Napiórkowski, Zofia Tomaszewska Photographs: Maciej Bronarski: No. 4, 8, 9, 12, 13, 17-20, 196, 198 Andrzej Ring & Bartosz Tropi³o: No. 1-3, 5-7, 10, 11, 14-16, 21-195, 197, 199-298 © Copyright by Zamek Królewski w Warszawie 2008 ISBN 978-83-7022-170-6 Arx Regia® Oœrodek Wydawniczy Zamku Królewskiego w Warszawie Plac Zamkowy 4, 00-277 Warszawa Tel. (+48) 0 22-355 52 32 (+48) 0 22-355 52 43 Fax: (+48) 0 22-355 53 74 www.zamek-krolewski.pl e-mail: [email protected] Print: ARGRAF sp. z o.o. 03-301 Warszawa, ul. Jagieloñska 76 tel./fax (022) 811 51 11, 614 53 31 Table of contents Foreword Andrzej Rottermund 7 Introduction 9 I. Polish glass 14 Royal glasshouse in Bielany 15 Crystal glasshouse in Lubaczów County 16 Crystal glass glasshouse in Naliboki and Mirror glass works in Urzecze 30 Unidentified Polish glasshouses 46 II. Silesian glass 68 III. Bohemian glass 91 IV. German glass 112 V. Russian glass 122 VI. English glass 132 VII. Masonic glass 133 VIII. European glass of unidentified provenance 138 IX. Historicisms and emulations 160 Polish historicism 162 Historicisms and emulations of Bohemian and Silesian glass 167 Emulations of German glass 178 X. Mirrors 191 Abbreviations of names of institutions 195 Bibliographical abbreviations 197 Supplementary literature 200 Glossary of terms 201 Index of persons 203 Index of place names 207 The catalogue of the glass collection of the Royal Castle in Warsaw is the second in succession (following the volume of Painting Until 1900) comprehensive account of a set of art works from the Castle holdings. It comprises both objects that are the property of the Castle and a set of glassware belonging to the Foundation of the Ciechanowiecki Family Collection at the Royal Castle. The collection of glass is not connected historically with the Castle. It originated after its reconstruction, chiefly thanks to the generosity of donators. On account of a relatively small size of the collection under consideration, its catalogue, unlike that of painting, does not follow a time-period division. The collection houses a group of glassware connected with two Polish rulers, August II and August III, as well as single objects: a goblet with a monogram of Stanis³aw August Poniatowski and a glass commemorating the Third of May Constitution passed in the Castle. The most recent objects were made after 1945. They, too, are of historic value as they were commissioned by the Government of the Repub- lic of Poland in Exile. The Castle collection houses objects of exquisite quality, especially within the small set of works from 18th-century Polish glasshouses. They can be regarded as part of the group of the chef d’oeuvres of Polish museum collections. Because of the fragility of the material and the purpose the objects were made for, their presentation within the Castle premises is impossible, unlike that of ceramic ware decorating chests of drawers and tables. A small selection of glass items (mainly Polish, but also Silesian, Bohemian, and German) is exhibited only in the Castle Gallery of Decorative Arts. Andrzej Rottermund Director, Royal Castle in Warsaw Acknowledgements First of all I extend my words of gratitude and recognition to the late Curator of the glassware collection of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Ms. Ilona Zatorska-Antonowicz, whose preparation of study cards of glass objects laid the groundwork for further studies. I wish to extend my words of gratitude for their assistance during comparative search queries as well as their valuable hints and consultations to Mmes: especially to Aleksandra J. Kasprzak M.A. – curator of the National Museum in Warsaw, and Alicja Kilijañska M.A. – curator of the National Museum in Kraków, Barbara Bu³dys M.A. – curator of the District Museum in Tarnów, El¿bieta Gajewska-Prorok M.A. – curator of the National Museum in Wroc³aw, Dr Stefania ¯elasko – curator of the Muzeum Karkonoskie in Jelenia Góra, and Barbara Szelegejd M.A. – curator of the Museum of the Palace in Wilanów. My thanks are due also to Dr Jerzy J. Kunicki-Goldfinger from the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology for rendering available the results of physical and chemical analy- ses of the glassware (in part unpublished). The tests in question and the historical and tech- nological analysis of Baroque glassware were since 1998 carried out in the Institute by a team, headed by Dr J. J. Kunicki-Goldfinger and consisting of Dr Piotr Dzier¿anowski, Dr Joachim Kierzek, and Bo¿ena Ma³o¿ewska-Buæko M.A. The work was financed in part by the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research within the framework of the projects Problems of at- tribution of works of art examples of 18th century central European decorative glass (grant No. HO1E 028 18) and Baroque glass in Polish collections (Provenance studies) (grant No. 2 HO1E 008 25), conducted under the supervision of Dr J. J. Kunicki-Goldfinger in the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology in collaboration with many Polish museums (e.g. the Royal Castle in Warsaw), in the periods 2000-2001 and 2003-2005, respectively. The research team was composed, e.g. of Dr Piotr Dzier¿anowski from Warsaw University, Aleksandra Kasprzak M.A. from the National Museum in Warsaw, and Dr Joachim Kierzek and Bo¿ena Ma³o¿ewska-Buæko M.A. from the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology in Warsaw. Author Introduction The glass collection of the Royal Castle in Warsaw is connected with the venue’s most recent history, as it was set up after the rebuilding of the Castle, mainly thanks to donors. Close to one half of the collection comes from the set of glass objects owned by Tadeusz Wierzejski; this glass became the property of the Castle on the strength of his bequest of 1974. One-fourth of the collection is made up of donations, mainly from the years 1971-1980. Special mention should be made of representative tableware of the Polish Government from the inter-war period; the set, composed of seventy different glass objects, was donated to the Castle collec- tion by the liquidation commission of the Polish Government in Exile in 1992. Unlike the collection of paintings, sculptures or furniture, most of which formed an integral part of the Stanis³aw August collection or were used in the Castle during his reign, the glass collection is not historically connected with the current place of storage. This makes it virtu- ally impossible to trace back the provenance of the majority of these fragile items. Only some glass objects, from the best Polish glasshouses of the 18th c., displayed at domestic exhibitions held in the latter half of the 19th c. and in the early 20th c., have a more or less documented history. The starting point for tracing back this history were the heraldic emblems and some- times also initials on the glass, pointing to the person for whom (or by whom) there were commissioned. By retracing the family connections of successive generations and confronting them with their owners’ records in exhibition catalogues we arrived at a picture of their me- andering past. The glass collection of the Royal Castle in Warsaw includes objects made between the late 17th c. and the mid-20th c. (except one from 3rd century A.C.). This is for the most part 18th-century glass, which does not reflect the history of glass making (e.g. there are no objects representing the famous Venetian glass), and thus is not a review of forms and techniques used through the centuries. As a result, the layout of the catalogue reflects the division into the countries of origin of the glass objects. A third of the Castle collection is composed of Polish glass, discussed in Chapter 1. On the basis of shared characteristic features and archival sources, objects are grouped in accordance with the main Polish glasshouses from Bielany, Lubaczów, and Naliboki-Urzecze. Chapter 2 discusses Silesian glass: 18th-century goblets, bowls, and glasses, as well as a few examples of outstanding quality items from the renowned work- shop of Johann Sigismund Menzel in Cieplice. The following chapter presents objects repre- senting different technologies and decorations manufactured in Bohemian glasshouses. Special attention is paid to engraved beakers and glasses (end of 17th-18th c.), so-called Zwichengoldg- lass, and objects from the 1st half of the 19th c. – multi-layer glassware or coated with a layer of colour azurite or metal oxide paints, typical of the period. A few examples of German glass are detailed in a separate part of the catalogue. This is Saxon and Hessian glass of exquisite craftsmanship related to the persons of the two representatives of the Wettin dynasty on the Polish throne: August II the Strong, and his son, August III. The following chapter is devoted to Russian glass, followed by one object of English prov- enance. A group of Masonic glass was also singled out because of its unique iconography; the question of provenance was left out here. A sizeable section is devoted to glass of unidentified places of origin from Central Europe.