Holy water font

The holy water font with a white–red decoration, with a blue lapis lazuli container added presumably later, may have been bought for the Wilanów collection for the purpose of being used in one of the chapels of the nearby church or as a collector’s item. The leather case ensuring the protection of the delicate structure for the time of transport and storage was presumably ordered by Aleksander Potocki from a Vienna manufacturer, which is confirmed by an inscription: Francois Siré a la ville de Carlsbad VIENNE. The orderer required that the top of the package bear a monogram AP under a nine-bow count’s crown. The initials AP embossed on the package in a neo-Gothic manner are very similar to initials visible on a silver toilet set dated 1819–1838 ordered in Paris from Pierre Noël Blaquière’s factory.

The impressive octagonal font is decorated with red colour from the depths of the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the most characteristic products made in craft workshops of Italy, which is surrounded with waters abounding in this material. Because of their value, properties attributed to coral and difficulties in its acquisition, jewellery products and vessels decorated with coral were luxurious items. The items preserved most often in collections were variously shaped epergnes, caskets, cutlery items, white weapon sheaths and cult performance items, such as stoups, reliquaries, chalices, small crucifixes, devotional shrines or small crosses. The form of the Wilanów font refers to octagonal reliquaries that were popular as early as the 17th century. The holy water container made of lapis lazuli with a figure in a blue niche may have been added to it upon individual request. Instead of being fitted under the openwork plate, the coral is fitted on the metal plate surface by means of steel wire, which is a characteristic quality of 18th-century objects. The whole object is set in a broad silvery–white frame enameled in pieces with pinnacles, which is accented with red coral seeds. The holy water font was shown to the Warsaw audience during An Exhibition of Antique and Art Objects in the palace of Count August Potocki and his wife at Krakowskie Przedmieście 32 (today the Museum of the University of Warsaw) in 1856. It is described in the catalogue of this exhibition under item 564.

Joanna Paprocka-Gajek